China's restraint clear to all

Some countries may try to make use of the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue, starting on Friday, to once again sensationalize the territorial disputes in the South China Sea between China and some of its Southeast Asian neighbors.

Some Western media outlets are predicting China will be "besieged" at the annual security forum in Singapore, which is organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies and attended by the defense ministers and military chiefs of 28 Asia-Pacific states.

But will the South China Sea disputes necessarily lead to worsening relations between China and neighboring countries, and have the disputes really become a strategic trap on China's road to a peaceful rise as some like to claim?