The Philippines, Japan, and Vietnam might compromise peace, stability and freedom of navigation in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) if these countries continue to intensify the territorial disputes in the region by enlisting the support of the United States (US), a Chinese report said on Sunday.

In an editorial published in state-owned China Daily, senior writer Wang Hui warned that China’s neighboring countries “should seek a win-win situation in the spirit of peace and tolerance.”

He said that Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, who all have competing claims over the islands that China believed to be under its sovereignty, must “discard the Cold War mentality and work together to shape a common concept of regional security and development.”

“Growing disputes between East Asian and Southeast Asian countries over territorial waters in the East China Sea and the South China Sea have eroded the mutual political trust between China and some neighboring countries and are threatening to thwart their efforts to deepen regional cooperation,” Wang said.

He added that China’s collaboration with East Asian and Southeast Asian countries in recent years “played a vital role in benefiting the region.”

However, recent maritime disputes between China and Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam “are threatening to derail that collaboration.”

Wang said that Beijing has been consistent in saying that it is willing to work together with its neighbors and even with countries outside the region to maintain regional peace and stability.

He cited that the recent conclusion of the China-US-Asia Pacific Consultations in San Francisco proves that Washington “still considers its cooperation with China to be much more beneficial than its efforts to contain the second largest economy” in the world.

The fourth round of the China-US-Asia Pacific Consultations saw Washington and Beijing agreeing to make the East Asia Summit (EAS) a success.

The EAS, an annual meeting between the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India and New Zealand, will be conducted in Cambodia next month.

Both the United States and Russia were invited to the 2011 EAS in Indonesia. They will also be attending the summit this year.

The Philippine government has yet to announce which senior official it will send to the summit, which is expected to discuss the drafting of a Code of Conduct in the West Philippine Sea.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during her speech at the 2011 summit, called on Asean and China to follow on the 2002 Declaration on the Code of Conduct by drafting a more binding edict to ensure peace and stability in the region.

But Wang said that Washington’s engagement in the region might not be as deep as Manila thinks it is.

He said that the recent round of consultations between Washington and Beijing will “hopefully . . . prompt countries like the Philippines not to miscalculate the situation and realize that the US might not be as willing as Manila thinks to get involved in a head-on confrontation with China over the South China Sea disputes.”

Wang was referring to the recent tensed territorial disputes involving Beijing, Hanoi and Manila wherein the Southeast Asian countries, and members of the Asean, accused the Asian economic powerhouse of acting aggressively in the region in terms of solidifying its claims over the Spratly Islands, Pratas Islands, Paracel Islands and the Macclesfield Bank.

Hanoi and Manila have lodged diplomatic protests against Beijing.

The tension between China and the Philippines tightened when Chinese maritime surveillance ships prevented Philippine authorities from arresting several Chinese fishermen caught illegally poaching in Panatag (Scarborough Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc).

The shoal sits 124 nautical miles away from Masinloc municipality in the province of Zambales, and is well within the country’s 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone as provided for by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The country has readily engaged the US in the disputes by brandishing the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT). China has frowned upon what it considers an “intervention” from Washington.

Manila has also proposed to settle the disputes multilaterally but Beijing was adamant that it will only negotiate through bilateral means.

The US had emphasized its “strategic interest” in maintaining peace and stability in the West Philippine Sea—a vital sea route that links the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Some $5 trillion worth of global trade passes by it annually, most of which are from the US.

Washington, however, was quick to clarify that it is not taking any side in the dispute but merely helping the Philippines establish a minimum credible defense posture that will better patrol its coastal waters.

The aid in establishing a minimum credible defense was enshrined in the 1951 MDT.