Australian filmmaker decries U.S. provocation across Pacific

Award-winning Australian journalist and filmmaker John Pilger has warned of the "dangerous" U.S. provocation across the Pacific, slamming Western media of propagating the rhetoric of "China threat".

The accusation came as Pilger's latest documentary The Coming War on China was debuted in Britain a few days ago. The documentary explores the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region and a possible nuclear confrontation.

The United States sought to provoke a nuclear-armed power across the Pacific while people who watched TV news in the West were told that China was aggressively building airstrips in the South China Sea, Pilger said in a recent written interview with Xinhua.

"What is not reported is that China is surrounded and threatened by some 400 U.S. military bases, with the U.S. Navy probing its airspace and coastal waters with low-draught missile destroyers," he said.

"This is the provocation which, by miscalculation or mistake or accident, could ignite a nuclear war," he added.

Born in Sydney, Pilger, who has worked with media organizations including Reuters and the Daily Mirror, is the winner of an Emmy and the Grierson Trust Award, granted by the British Academy for Film and Television Arts for excellence in journalism.

His latest documentary was filmed over two years in places including Japan, South Korea, China, and the United States.

Pilger decried an enduring, specious propagation of distorted and biased news from the West against China.

Pilger said he believes Russia is similarly stereotyped in Western media, said to be the freest on earth.

He noted that the United States and China should respect each other.

His documentary recently is shown in British cinemas and also on ITV Player. Pilger said that, of all the countries he would like his film to be shown, China and the United States are on top of the list.

"In spite of its reputation for unfettered freedom of speech, the United States is often the most difficult market for a film that tells the truth about its policies," he said. Endi