The issue of sovereignty in the South China Sea has become a major stumbling block in closer regional cooperation between China and some of the ASEAN countries. While Beijing is trying to defuse tension by offering bilateral and multilateral engagements with countries vying for control over the sea, outer influence and traditional brinkmanship by leading powers has been creating problems.

[By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry consciously stoked the tension by referring to the dispute over the South China Sea during the recently concluded eighth East Asia Summit in Brunei, when he reiterated the U.S. position by asserting that the rights of navigation and unimpeded trade should be respected. America is using the regional ASEAN platform to give air to its policy on the issue. Kerry's predecessor Hillary Clinton also said similar things in 2010 during an ASEAN summit.

The South China Sea is strategically located between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and covers an area from Singapore and the Malacca Straits to the Taiwan Strait. It is about 1800 kilometers in length from north to south and 900 kilometers wide from east to west.

China is the main claimant to the major chunk of the sea, basing its ownership to the historical references dating back to before the birth of Christ. A U-shape nine-dotted line or nine-dash map is used to identify its official position. The claim runs along the waters of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines. All these countries have rival claims which clash with that of China. The sea has several proper islands, rocky tops, atolls and reefs, including some that are hotly contested by rival states.

The sea has a lot of strategic importance as one-third of the world's shipping traffic passes through it. There are also credible reports that the seabed is enriched with untapped minerals and hydrocarbons, which could be source of enrichment and could prove a driving force for fast economic and industrial growth.

The rival claims and external interference have given birth to occasional violence and deterioration of ties, resulting in an unstable periphery which runs against the Chinese dream of a peaceful rise by having close cooperation with all neighbors. The Chinese officials are aware of it. That is why the new Chinese leadership – President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang – have taken the lead to forge a closer cooperation with the ASEAN bloc as well as with the individual countries to build better relations by offering economic dividends. Xi visited Malaysia and Indonesia, and also attended the APEC summit, while Premier Li participated in the East Asia Summit and also visited Thailand and Vietnam after taking part in the Brunei meetings where he had extensive bilateral interactions with the Bruneian leaders.