Observer agrees: Cut back the rhetoric

Former State councilor Dai Bingguo's proposal in a speech on Tuesday that China and the US should turn down the heat on the South China Sea issue has struck a chord with some US observers.

"I think State councilor Dai made very good points ... especially that we need to lower the temperature, cut back on the rhetoric, to continue to talk friendly," said Brendan S. Mulvaney, associate chair of the US Naval Academy's Languages and Cultures Department.

He made the comment at a news conference on Wednesday in which Chinese and US experts shared the results of the dialogue in Washington between Chinese and US think tanks on the South China Sea.