Resolve South China Sea issue first

Maritime disputes are testing the wisdom of the Chinese government and have prompted it to handle its ties with the United States with utmost caution to ensure that China's peaceful development continues uninterrupted.

There is little doubt that the maritime disputes broke out as a result of Washington's "rebalancing" in Asia policy, which is aimed at strengthening the US' strategic presence in the Asia-Pacific region. Aside from being aimed at restructuring the US' cooperation with its Asian allies and balancing the equilibrium between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the "rebalancing" policy is also intended to help Washington maintain its dominant position in and derive the maximum benefit from Asia's development.

Since the US hasn't met with much success with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would have helped it advance its "rebalancing" policy, it has embarked on a mission to strengthen its military presence in the region and blockade China's "first arc of islands". Since Asian countries locked in maritime disputes with China expect to get US support to counterbalance China's peaceful rise, they have taken intransigent measures against China and started what could be called an arms race in the region.