Update | Top Chinese scholar blasts US for ‘fanning discord’ in South China Sea with Japan air patrol proposal

A leading Chinese international relations scholar has denounced the United States for "sowing discord in the South China Sea" after the Pentagon came out in open support for Japanese air patrols into the region.

The sharply-worded commentary, published in the overseas edition of Communist Party mouthpiece , appears to be a response to comments by Robert Thomas, Commander of the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, welcoming Japan to extend its air patrols in the South China Sea where “Chinese coastguard and the (navy) overmatch their neighbours”.

The proposal was later endorsed by US Department of Defence, who said it would “help contribute to stability in the region”.

Shen Dingli, deputy director of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University and one of China’s top international relations experts, lashed out at the proposal, insisting it is intended to sow discord in the region in the name of “establishing regional stability”

“An important reason behind the instability in the South China Sea is the meddling and instigation by the United States, who has promoted unjust causes for its own selfish interests,” Shen wrote. “It has complicated the disagreements among parties which could have possibly been resolved through negotiations.”