The dialogue is considered key to peace in the South China Sea

Returning to the negotiating table and exploring ways of cooperation is the only viable and correct path to reduce risk, maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, and is a way for regional countries to get along with each other, observers said. Thursday.

They commented during a panel discussion at the Boa Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2024 in Boao, Hainan Province that, as a geopolitical hot spot, the South China Sea situation is evolving into a larger environment of intense competition and low trust. and increasing tension.

Nguyen Hung Son, vice president of Vietnam's Diplomatic Academy, said that with the world mired in uncertainty, managing the South China Sea has become more challenging. „We need to work together … to reduce confusion and miscalculation by strengthening strategic communication and dialogue, and not sending the wrong signal to the other side,” he said.

Stephen Orlins, chairman of the National Committee on US-China Relations, said the South China Sea is one of the world's most important waterways, and any disruption in the region has huge global implications. „The world cannot afford an unstable and unproductive South China Sea,” he said, adding that diplomatic efforts are needed to develop mechanisms to resolve differences and allow various parties to jointly benefit from the waterway.

Wu Shigun, head of the Huang Research Center for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance and founding director of the National Institute of South China Sea Studies, said the United States, a major external power, is encouraging its allies to stoke provocations in the South. China Sea.

„Washington supports those who confront China in the region, and this is the reason why Manila often creates problems in the Renai Reef,” he said, adding that the US should adopt a policy of neutrality over the South China Sea and avoid choosing sides. .

Dino Patti Jalal, founder and president of Indonesia's Foreign Policy Society, said the South China Sea is a rare topic whose claimants continue to talk based on a clear path, which is the South China Sea Code of Conduct. He said it is very important to exercise self-control. „If you want stability, cooperation, trust and confidence, all claimants must avoid actions that provoke responses from other claimants.”

Jalal added that cooperation has an inverse relationship with conflict. „The more you cooperate, the less potential for conflict.”

Yang Renhuo, deputy director-general of the Department of Border and Maritime Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said maritime disputes and differences are not the whole story of inter-regional relations in the South China Sea, which should not be diluted or even. Friendship among regional countries will drown out the mainstream of cooperation.

China is willing to cooperate with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in less sensitive areas such as ensuring environmental protection, promoting scientific research, maritime search and rescue coordination, combating transnational maritime crimes and ensuring maritime navigation security, Yang added.