The joint operations provide Chinese forces valuable opportunities to test their skills and tactics. But if the West is really concerned with China and Russia’s intentions behind these drills, it needs some soul-searching to ask what “common threats’ have driven the two countries to get closer faster than anticipated.

To solve the misperceptions the Philippines and China have toward the other’s intentions in the South China Sea, both sides should be more open to understanding the rationale of each other’s actions and behavior, commit to non-militarization of the disputed areas while refraining from using confrontational rhetoric, and not force each other’s red lines in public so as to avoid either party from losing face.

Has the Arbitral Tribunal decision on the South China Sea been misconstrued by main stream U.S. media? Don M. Tow explores the legality of the Permanent Court of Arbitration Ruling, as well as the geopolitical motivations behind it, concluding that the U.S. is responsible for creating unnecessary conflicts with China and destabilizing peace in Asia, as well as the whole world.

Premier Li Keqiang told Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Monday to abide by a high-level consensus to contain tensions in the South China Sea over maritime disputes.

China and Southeast Asian nations agreed to create a telephone hotline as a fresh step to help avoid accidental military clashes in the South China Sea.

China and Russia will conduct a joint naval exercise codenamed Joint Sea 2016 in the South China Sea from Sept 12 to 19.

While the U.S. calls for respect of the given ruling under the Law of the Sea Convention, of which the U.S. is not a signatory, none of the predicted responses from China and the Philippines have come true. On the contrary, both have opted for ‘strategic restraint,’ choosing to use dialogue in order to find common ground.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Wednesday on China and the Philippines to abide by an international tribunal's decision on the disputed South China Sea and said there was no military solution to the problem.

Security assistance is a tangible means of bolstering partner nations’ ability to fend off Chinese maritime coercion. If the U.S. truly seeks to shift its strategic weight to the Asia-Pacific, it must consider ways to rebalance its security assistance programs to enable its maritime Southeast Asian partners, as they defend the front lines.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday he expects talks with China on their South China Sea dispute within a year and he would not raise an international ruling rejecting China's claims there when he attends a regional summit next month.