2016年CRI S. China Sea issue shouldn't define China-US ties: Official

The conference was cohosted by Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Former Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo.

"China and the US have neither dispute over even one inch of territory nor fundamental clash of interests in the South China Sea. The South China Sea issue should not be allowed to define China-US relations. Rather, this issue should be put in perspective against larger bilateral 1 relations and be transformed into an area of cooperation rather than arena 2 for confrontation 3."

Dai also reiterated 4 the Chinese government's longtime stance over the issue.

"The Chinese government was the first to propose and has consistently followed the position of "shelving disputes and pursuing common development." Its consistent position on the South China Sea issue includes the following three elements. Disputes should be settled peacefully through negotiation 5 and consultation 6, and managed through rules, norms and operating mechanisms 7. Shared interests should be expanded through joint 8 development and cooperation.

Freedom of navigation and overflight should be upheld and peace and stability maintained. These are both China's basic policies and solemn pledges on the South China Sea issue."

The Chinese government has said it will neither participate in the arbitration 9 nor accept its ruling.

The Chinese side argues the court has no jurisdiction 10 over the case since it is essentially 11 about territorial 12 sovereignty and maritime 13 delimitation.

Also, back in 2006, China declared it would exclude disputes concerning maritime delimitation from mandatory 14 dispute settlement procedures.

The government of outgoing Philippine President Benigno Aquino III filed the arbitration against China back in 2013.

He made the move despite his country's agreement with China on resolving their South China Sea disputes through bilateral negotiations 15.

Despite the rising tensions in the region ahead of the arbitration award, think tank members at Tuesday's event in Washington DC believe eventually cool heads will prevail.

Carnegie Endowment Senior Associate Michael Swaine says he does not expect any provocative 16 responses following the passing of the ruling.

"I'm hoping that, and there had been some basis for believing that in the statements of the Philippines new president and others, that calmer, cooler heads will prevail. And there won't be some provocative responses to this ruling."

Several think tank members at the conference say even from the military perspective, they believe the current tensions in the South China Sea are controllable.

Strategic policy analyst 17 Brendan Mulvaney, associate chair of the Languages and Cultures Department with the US Naval 18 Academy, argues that the momentum 19 of improving military ties between the US and China won't be overshadowed by the South China Sea issue.

"Overall I think our two country relationships, specifically on the military front, are far better than they have been for a while. The South China Sea continues to be a sticking point, but it does not overshadow all the other things we are doing to cooperate and to foster some better relations. So hopefully we can use some of those ways to ameliorate the situation in the South China Sea. I think as long as we do a good job continuing to explain that to the public, than we can decrease some of the perceived tensions."

Douglas Paal, vice 20 president for studies with the Carnegie Endowment, says the upcoming deadline of the arbitration award could be a turning point when things in the region start to look better.

"It's my view that the July 12 deadline for the arbitration award should be viewed as a turning point to turn this from confrontation into cooperation, from adversary 21 into advantage by leading directly into a period of diplomatic efforts to calm multiple sides of the disputes down."

For CRI, I'm Su Yi reporting from Washington DC.