US Secretary of State John Kerry was in China over the weekend for talks on a range of topics including trade and security with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Unsurprisingly, the South China Sea issue was where he picked a fight. The bone of contention was China's construction in some reefs under Chinese administration in the South China Sea. Kerry stated Washington's concerns and urged China to ease tensions in the region, while Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China is committed to settling disputes through peaceful means but it has a legitimate right to build on its own territory.

One articulation of US interests in the South China Sea is to maintain its dominant role in the region at a time of its pivot to Asia strategy. It has said it has no position on the overlapping territorial claims by China and others, but has resorted to a claim of "freedom of navigation" to intervene in the area.

Last week US media reported that the Pentagon was considering using aircraft and navy ships within 12 miles of China's reclamation sites to directly contest China's territorial claims and its building of islands.

The possibility that the Pentagon's aggressive idea signals a head-on confrontation between China and the US has unnerved many. Most Chinese scholars and researchers in international relations still believe that current China-US relations are generally favorable for both sides. China and the US have not yet been trapped in and suffered from a downward spiral that features both sides flexing their muscles on all possible occasions and adopting a tit-for-tat approach against each other. Therefore, it is inappropriate and inopportune for one side to cast harsh warnings to the other to test its tenacity and patience. The South China Sea only constitutes a fraction of the entire China-US relations. Neither Beijing nor Washington is willing to make the big picture of extensive common interests fall victim to maritime disputes.

China and the US are scheduled to hold the seventh round of US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue talks next month, and President Xi is about to visit the US in September. It is believed that the benefits produced by these future interactions will offset current discord.

China attaches great importance to building a new type of major power relationship, meanwhile, it is more determined in safeguarding its core interests. China is increasingly deft and confident in maintaining balanced China-US ties.