Source: Global Times    Published: 2017-6-4

A report drafted by Chinese experts has warned that armed clashes will occur in areas like the South China Sea in a few years if differences and friction between China and the US go uncontrolled.

"The South China Sea should not be a battleground of China and the US," wrote the report named "China-US Relations: Exploring a New Pathway to a Win-win Partnership."

It added that US hype of China`s "militarization" in the region, as well as joint patrols with Japan, Australia and India, are not helping stabilize the situation in the region.

The report was published by more than 20 Chinese experts, including Fu Ying, chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People`s Congress of China.

Fu is also the coauthor of an article on a series of events leading to rising tensions in the South China Sea, which was published in May 2016.

Published in China on May 22, the report is part of a joint research program by think tanks with more than 40 senior scholars from both China and the US.

"Although experts from China and the US have cooperated on similar reports, this program involves the largest number of experts, and is the most profound in terms of content," Wang Wen, dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies who participated in the program, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Wang added that the US version will be published by the end of June.

The joint research program was launched at a time when China and the US are undergoing domestic changes, Wang said.

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, scheduled to be convened later this year, will have a major impact on the country`s direction, and the Trump administration is also leading the US on a different path.  

Sino-US relations are at a critical stage, with competition and cooperation coexisting but competition is gaining wider public attention from the public, the report said.

Another factor that seriously hampers the development of bilateral relations is disparities in values and politics, the report added. The US government`s views on China have been heading in a negative direction after Donald Trump assumed the presidency, the report noted.  

The report proposes that Washington and Beijing fully utilize the dialogue mechanism established in April 2017 when Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump met.

Wang Wen is Executive Dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China.