Meddling in South China Sea won't help resolve maritime dispute

US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken's irresponsible remarks on China's island reclamation projects in the South China Sea risks reviving tensions between Beijing and Washington after the two countries tried to ease them before last week's high-level China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

On June 26, Blinken said China's island building projects are a "threat to peace and stability" and compared them to the Ukraine crisis, alleging that they are "unilaterally and coercively changing the status quo". Such remarks, made just two days after China and the United States concluded their annual S&ED which yielded multiple results, could cast a shadow over the larger and improving picture of China-US ties.

Yet Blinken's remarks are typical of Washington, which has seldom played an impartial role in the South China Sea issue. To pursue its interests and realize its strategic goals in the Asia-Pacific region, the world's sole superpower has tacitly backed countries like the Philippines to ratchet up tensions over the maritime disputes.