HONG KONG -- Western diplomatic jargons, such as a rules-based system and de-risking, expose obfuscation and double standards, reported the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based English-language daily.

Western diplomats are constantly citing well-worn phrases and words that seem to say something, but probably mean nothing or something else entirely, wrote Alex Lo, a columnist for the daily.

"They are all usually used against China, though smaller but non-Western-compliant countries may also be cited," he observed.

For example, a "rules-based system" doesn't mean international law, rules and norms. If that were the case, Western leaders would simply have said "the international system."

"One reason is that many US politicians have nothing but contempt for them," Lo wrote. "Another is that Western nations routinely ignore or breach their rules and rulings, but happily cite them when they are against what I call non-Western-compliant countries."

In the latest Group of Seven communique, the Western powers called on China to "play by the rules" and cited so-called "coercive behavior."

"Most independent experts think it's more bark than bite," Lo said. "But sanctions by the West and especially by the US? That's on an entirely different order of magnitude."

A staggering 27 percent of countries around the world are subjected to US or Western-led sanctions. The West may think sanctions sound nicer, but they are much deadlier, the columnist noted.