Take Hillary Clinton's trip to Hanoi for example. While playing up the South China Sea issue, she immediately rapped a few ASEAN countries over the issues of "human rights" and "press freedoms."

In short, Washington always puts its own interests above those of ASEAN countries and becomes lukewarm whenever it comes to the question of offering help to these countries.

For countries around the South China Sea, direct bilateral negotiations are the best way to resolve their disputes, and seeking outside involvement is doomed to failure.

The above-mentioned DOC stipulates that "the parties concerned undertake to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force, through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned."

The DOC thus enhances mutual trust among the countries concerned and creates favorable conditions and a good atmosphere for efforts to seek a final solution to the disputes.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said that attempts to internationalize the issue would "only make matters worse and resolution more difficult," and that "international practices show that the best way to resolve such disputes is for countries concerned to have direct bilateral negotiations."

To sum up, outside involvement will only complicate the South China Sea issue and hinder a smooth resolution of the thorny issue.

Therefore, Asian countries should display wisdom in resolving the issue through direct friendly consultations, and should be on guard against being used as a chess piece paving the way for outside involvement.