China's official claims to the islands in the South China Sea date from last century. In 1947, China promoted the 11 dashed lines of the South China Sea, later reduced to nine dashed lines.

There are several meanings of the dashed lines. First, they were not equal to the boundary of the territorial sea. According to international law at the time when the initial claim was made, a state's territorial sea extended up to 3 nautical miles from its baseline. The 11 dashed line means that all islands and islets on our side belong to China.

China has sovereignty over the territorial sea of the islands in the South China Sea. But the Chinese government didn't claim the ownership of other oceanic areas and materials on the seabed then.

In 1958, international law shifted to stating that a state's territorial sea extends up to 12 nautical miles from its coast. The Chinese government defined that China's territorial sea is delimited according to the baseline surrounding the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Penghu, Jinmen, Mazu, and the islands of the South China Sea.

China signed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982. China thus has special and unprecedented rights and interests in the Chinese continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone.

At the same time, the waters which have been enclosed by the nine dashed line in the South China Sea overlap with other countries' continental shelf and exclusive economic zone. And conflicts inevitably rise due to competition around resources in this region.

But surrounding countries like Vietnam and the Philippines know clearly that all relevant neighboring countries have accepted or not objected to China's claim of sovereignty over all islands and islets in the South China Sea.

As a super power, the US should not pursue a biased position in the name of "taking no position." The right position is to ask Vietnam and the Philippines to go back to their traditional stances of not having any claim to the Nansha and Xisha islands, as well as Huangyan Island.

The US should also ask Vietnam to return to admitting China's sovereignty over these islands. Then the disputes over the South China Sea will soon disappear.

The US has shifted from its previous position, which didn't challenge China's claim, to the current demand for a multilateral and peaceful settlement of the disputes.

This is really intended to deprive China of the right to protect its island territories by any means necessary, after Vietnam failed to honor its commitments and used force to occupy some Chinese islands.

Nowadays, the Chinese government has clearly claimed sovereignty over the whole South China Sea. Our rights and interests of the South China Sea should include the territorial sea, continental shelf, exclusive economic zone, islands and islets in the South China Sea and surrounding waters.

The US is not a party to this dispute. The freedom of navigation to which the US attaches great attention touches on China's important national interest.

US investigations in China's exclusive economic zone have obviously damaged our national security. This is an illegitimate action which shows the selfishness of the US.

The author is director of the Center for American Studies in Fudan University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn