PLA Air Force flies a bomber to conduct island patrols over the South China Sea in this file photo taken on Nov 23, 2017. (Photo: Xinhua)

The entry of a United States Air Force U-2 reconnaissance plane into a no-fly zone China announced for live-fire military drills being conducted by the Northern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army on Tuesday, is anything but acceptable rule-based behavior.

China has more than enough reason to lodge stern representations with the United States.

It is normal practice for a country to announce in advance a no-fly zone when conducting live-fire military drills, and entry into such a zone will naturally be considered a violation of safety norms and thus a provocative act.

As such, what the US did is a deliberate act aimed at interfering with China's military drills. In a statement issued late on Tuesday, China's Defense Ministry said the action had "seriously interfered in normal exercise activities" and "severely incurred the risk of misjudgment and even of bringing about an unintended air-sea incident".

But as US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper wrote in an article published in The Wall Street Journal ahead of his trip to Palau, Guam and Hawaii this week, the US is willing to do all it can to maintain its military advantage.

China is entitled to develop a strong military, which it has repeatedly affirmed is to safeguard China's sovereignty, security and development interests. The unwarranted speculation of the US about the motivations for PLA's modernization drive are nothing but attempts to portray China as an aggressor so as to drive a wedge between it and other countries in Asia.

As well as collecting as much intelligence as possible about the PLA's military capabilities, the US incursion into the no-fly zone was intended to highlight the drills and reinforce this false perception that China's military is a threat.

But sending a U-2 reconnaissance plane into the no-fly zone China announced in advance was not only presumptuous, it was also potentially risky.

The tragic collision between a Chinese military jet and US Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane in April 2001 is a lesson Washington and the Pentagon should have learned. They must have forgotten the apologies they had to make for that fatal coming together.

That its own interest and the maintaining of its advantage over all countries in all aspects take precedence over anything else are the fundamental reason the US engages in such provocative and reckless behavior.

Being the world's sole superpower and maintaining that status get the better of the rationality of US politicians and its military authorities, who, thanks to their corresponding arrogance, lack any respect for rules, conventions and international norms.

The fact that it has long bullied the world has made the US paranoid that should it not be able to bully another, it will end up being bullied itself.

But that is no excuse for the US' behavior, which is beyond the pale.