Experts agree that US intervention in the South China Sea would embolden other claimant countries, and destroy peace and stability in the region.

“That involvement of this outside powers into the region do make the situation much more vulnerable and volatile and unpredictable,” said NGEOW Chow Bing, Deputy Director of Institute of China Studies, University of Malaya, Malaysia.

“It helps build this vicious cycle,” said Li Mingjiang, Associate Professor of S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.