China should swiftly ink code of conduct with Asean

OVER the last two weeks, China and the United States moved dangerously close to the brink of war for the first time in almost two decades, but the annual security forum in Singapore saw the two sides adopt a less hawkish, while still firm, stance on disputes in the South China Sea.

Last week, after the United States demanded that China permanently halt its land reclamation and construction work in disputed waters, the Global Times, a Chinese state-owned newspaper, warned that "war is inevitable" unless the United States stopped making such demands.

At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, US Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, repeated the demand for "an immediate and lasting halt to land reclamation", but made it clear that it applied not only to China but to "all claimants", which Beijing appreciated.