By Li Kaisheng

March 9, 2015

"Relations between China and some ASEAN countries have been in the spotlight in recent years. For ASEAN, China is a close neighbor that they must learn how to get along with; for China, ASEAN is a strong link that cannot be replaced in its "One Belt, One Road" initiative.

As sovereignty disputes concern core interests and they cannot be addressed in the short term, the most practical way to deal with these issues would be to impose some calculated rules on the game. In this regard, all parties should agree to resolve the disputes through diplomatic, economic and legal channels instead of the use of force, and put the problem-solving process in a controllable range.

Currently, China has been criticized for unilaterally changing the status quo in the South China Sea by expanding construction on some disputed islands. However, these criticisms ignore the fact that some other claimants especially the Philippines and Vietnam have been exploring their occupied islands for years and China has shown forbearance."

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