BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhua) -- It has been widely speculated that the South China Sea will dominate the Shangri-La Dialogue, an Asia-Pacific defense and security summit opened on Friday in Singapore.
If so, the three-day meeting, which gathers military brass, intelligence officers and civilian leaders and promises to play a constructive role in regional security, will be another platform hijacked to make a fanfare of the maritime disputes.
Around the South China Sea, another negative development is that a few, particularly non-claimants, have been busy expanding presence and flexing military muscles around the South China Sea, as an international arbitration tribunal in The Hague prepares to deliver a ruling in the next few months over a case about the issue unilaterally lodged by Manila in 2013.
This adds to the worry that outside interference, which stems from various self-interests, has become an increasingly serious menace to stability in the South China Sea.
For example, the United States has conducted several so-called "freedom of navigation" operations by closely flying or sailing past South China Sea islands, blatantly violating China's sovereign and security interests.
In the meantime, the U.S. military made a series of harsh rhetoric on the issue. During his speech at the U.S. Naval Academy at the end of last month, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the Pentagon's best weapons will be deployed to the Pacific region.
The words and deeds, with an obvious intention to create a volatile situation to help Washington preserve hegemonic presence in the Asia-Pacific region, will embolden certain claimants to make hot-headed moves on the issue.
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