(Opinion) Maintaining Peace and Tranquility in the South China Sea
2015-05-31 10:07:05 source：China US Focus
By Shen Dingli
May 23, 2015
"Lately the US has issued some pointed remarks in regard to China's reclamation activity on some of its islands in South China Sea. It is not impossible to understand some of the American apprehension, especially over how China would use its expanded capacity. For long the US has been keen on the freedom of flight and navigation in international space and water and could be wary of the implication of China's reclamation. Such issues have prompted both countries to set up some 90 official mechanisms to channel respective concerns and to promote cooperation. The upcoming S&ED in June and the following summit in September in New York are top-level dialogues for such exchanges.
In this regard, it is unhelpful to issue threats by challenging China's buildup of islands through sending American warships or spy planes into the airspace and those waters within 12 nm of the expanded islands. It is upsetting that the Pentagon dispatched its Poseidon P-8A naval reconnaissance plane to some of these reclaimed islands on May 20."
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