海角大神

China, confident聽after a recent high-level meeting in the United States and bilateral talks with regional rivals, is ignoring聽a second round of US聽advice to sign a code of conduct that could ease the聽threat聽of conflict in a crowded,聽contested tract of Asian ocean.

After protestations last year over US influence in the South China Sea when faced with the same advice rocked ties in the region, Beijing kept quiet聽about聽Secretary of State John Kerry鈥檚聽call聽Tuesday聽for聽a code of conduct with聽a bloc that includes other countries that claim聽the same waters.

But聽Beijing鈥檚 inaction聽this time won't mean a diplomatic spat聽with Washington or neighbors, political experts say.

鈥淚 would doubt we would see as strong a negative reaction,鈥� says Ralph Cossa, president of Pacific Forum CSIS, a think tank in Hawaii. 鈥淭he [US] South China Sea comments were in an international setting where China was trying very hard not to internationalize the issue.鈥�

China will still decline to sign a code of conduct, analysts expect, despite enjoying some high relations after an upbeat meeting last month between US President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The main reason? China resents the United States for jumping into an Asian dispute.

鈥淐hina before was worried about the US stepping in, but now, it鈥檚 more like聽鈥榳hy should I do more or give away something?鈥欌�� says Nathan Liu, international affairs professor at Ming Chuan University in Taiwan.

What's the code about?

The code recommended by Mr. Kerry at an ASEAN forum in Brunei would聽likely聽list聽measures to avoid conflict on the 3.5 million-square-kilometer (1.4 million-square-mile) South China Sea stretching from Taiwan to Singapore.

It聽would not resolve sovereignty disputes that have pitted China against fellow聽sea聽claimants Vietnam and the Philippines since the 1970s.聽Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan also claim all or part of the South China Sea.

Conflicts left several people dead in the 1970s and 1980s, while a Sino-Philippine standoff over a shoal last year sunk diplomatic relations for months.

鈥淪ecretary Kerry stressed the need for adopting a Code of Conduct now, and encouraged all parties to quickly move towards substantive talks,鈥澛爐he聽US聽state department says on its website. (Want to know more about this process? Read up on past efforts to get China to side a code)

China and聽ASEAN, a bloc that includes four sea claimants, pledged in 2002 to resolve sea disputes peacefully but never followed up with a formal agreement. They have said the issue will be revisited later this year.

What's China doing?

But Beijing is pursuing conflict avoidance聽bilaterally, in the South as well as East China Sea, to prevent giving up too much power in a multilateral deal and to promote a better relationship with its neighbors. It has set up a fishing-dispute hotline聽with Vietnam and a naval hotline with Japan,聽its chief East China Sea rival,聽for example.

The聽Japanese coast guard聽said聽Monday聽it had spotted聽four Chinese ships聽entering聽its ocean territorial claim, but the ships left shortly. Tokyo and Beijing are talking at low levels about further dispute resolutions, some analysts say.

Washington also hopes to avoid the South China Sea dispute as long as聽key US聽shipping lanes remain unthreatened聽and China doesn鈥檛 gain too much power in the region, experts say. 聽US officials will ultimately accept any outcomes that spare conflict, experts believe.

鈥淸China] doesn鈥檛 want to follow US suggestions, but they聽will act on their聽own,鈥澛爏ays Lin Chong-pin, strategic studies聽professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. 鈥淭hey are big brother in Asia.鈥�