Top foreign ministers and diplomats from China and the United States gave opposing views regarding the situation in the South China Sea during the Association of Southeast Asian Nation Regional Forum (ARF).

During the ARF held at Naypyidaw, Myanmar, on Aug. 10, United States Secretary of State John Kerry proposed a plan to smoothen the South China Sea (SCS) dispute, but the plan was disregarded by China.

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Kerry proposed to "freeze" all actions on the SCS because it was causing more tension and has weakened the economy, but Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi refuted that the situation regarding the SCS is stable.

The U.S. state secretary said that the countries involved in the dispute in the SCS, namely Vietnam and the Philippines, must stop all war-related actions.

In addition, Kerry said that the parties involved should discontinue building outposts in the disputed lands and need to clarify the steps involved in making the lands more productive.

Reports claim that Kerry's proposal is based on several incidents where Chinese vessels have destroyed coral reefs in order to build wharfs and artificial islands in the disputed region.

However, Deputy Head Yi Xianliang of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Boundary and Ocean Affairs Department, said during an initial interview that China can build whatever it wants in the region.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed a 21st century security concept which implied that Asian problems must be solved by Asian countries.

Wang Yi said that China's problems should be solved by China and the involved parties alone.

Additionally, the Chinese foreign minister said that China is committed to maintaining the peace and stability of the situation.

"The South China Sea situation is stable on the whole. There has not been any problems navigating the South China Sea," Wang Yi said.

After the ARF, the Xinhua news agency, run by the Chinese state, called Kerry's proposal as "counterproductive and unhelpful," a move that was done to restrain the United States' position on the SCS situation, according to analysts.

TagsUS, ASEAN, ASEAN Regional Forum, Vietnam