Vital to keep in mind the bigger picture of China-US relations

US politicians who express serious concerns over China's construction work in the South China Sea and order their military planes to fly and their vessels to sail close to China's islets and reefs might be overwhelmed by the thought that Beijing is out to challenge Washington's dominant position in the world.

The safety and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea is an excuse for the United States to interfere in the region's affairs - it doesn't hold water because China hasn't done anything to thwart it. And China has stressed time and again that its reclamation work in the South China Sea will facilitate, not jeopardize, navigation.

In the South China Sea issue, the US has committed at least three errors. First, as a third party, it has no right to tell China what to do in its own territorial waters. The US is the sole superpower and still has the strongest military and largest economy in the world, but it should not ignore the great changes that have swept across the world since the end of the Cold War. The world has been become increasingly multi-polarized and the US is no longer in a position to dictate terms to big countries such as China and Russia and even some European states.