There is a saying in international diplomacy: Watch what countries do, rather than what they say.

China's recent actions in asserting its claims to ownership and other forms of jurisdiction over about 80 percent of the South China Sea speak louder than its oft-repeated soothing words that it is not seeking hegemony. Actions in the past month include:

• Offering oil and gas exploration and production rights to Chinese and foreign partner companies in nine blocks covering just over 160,000 square kilometers of waters off Vietnam's central coast, despite protests from Hanoi that the area belongs to Vietnam and is already under lease.