Hu Xijin, Editor in Chief of Global Times

The Philippines is obviously the loser of the dispute over Huangyan Island. Both sides want to tone it down for a while. The Philippines is no longer as aggressive as before, but China has not achieved that much either. The South China Sea dispute will continue for a while, and China will not only rival the Philippines, but also the US. We are in a quandary, but we're not going to move an inch. If the Philippines become too provocative and break the peace, they can expect a punch in the face from China.

@LeonCA: There is no way the Philippines will surrender those islands if we don't go to war with them. It is the warship that can declare sovereignty.  In this case, the Philippines is the winner in this round. The international community all view the Philipppine's as acting in self-defense when it sent its warship!

@美国律师: The warmongering netizens here should please go review some contemporary history books. The Mutual Defense Treaty co-signed by the Philippines and the States in 1951 specifically stated that if there's ever be a war between China and PH, the State will be obliged to send out its troops for aid. The nationalists in China are so ignorant of those basic historical facts, are so busy stirring up patriotic sentiment and misdirecting public attention; and they do not realize if a public consensus was formed that it would actually lead directly to a war, so how do we deal with this technicality?

@长安A: The wars China ever engaged in were all in self-defense, such as the war with India, with Russia and  Vietnam. The Korean War might be one exception, but for strategic reasons, it can also be looked at as self-defense. We labeled our army as a "voluntary army" in concerns of playing it over the top, afraid of leaving the international community as we are overly intervening and flexing our muscle too much, which is in line with our culture. In the case of this dispute with the Philippines, I feel we've reacted properly. If we would have been slightly more aggressive than we were, the international community would have easily sympathized with the Philippines and viewed them as the victim of the conflict.