US Secretary of State John Kerry Wednesday said that the US avoided a "confrontation" in the South China Sea, but experts said the US is trying to seek ways to interfere in regional affairs by seeking a compromise to lower tensions on the issue.

"We are trying to create a solution mindful of the rights of people established under the law …the decision itself is a binding decision but we're not trying to create a confrontation," Kerry said after his meeting with Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay on Wednesday, ABC reported.

Kerry also said the US "hopes to see a process that will narrow the geographic scope of the maritime disputes, set standards for behavior in contested areas, leads to mutually acceptable solutions, perhaps even a series of confidence-building steps."

"Kerry appears to be seeking to lower tensions between China and its South China Sea neighbors by seeking a compromise," Rick Dunham, the former National Press Club president, told the Global Times.

"The ruling has gained the US a 'victory' in diplomacy and public opinion. But the US has to contain possible attempts by other claimants to protect its own interests," Ni Feng, a research fellow at the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

This is Kerry's first visit to the Philippines under its new president, Rodrigo Duterte,  following the arbitration tribunal ruling which said China's claims within the nine-dash line are "baseless."

China rejected the ruling and called it "null and void."

Duterte assured Kerry during their meeting on Wednesday that the Philippine government would engage in bilateral talks with China only within the bounds of The Hague ruling, the Philippine news site inquirer.net reported.

"If China resigns itself to following the Philippines' argument during the negotiations, namely the arbitration ruling that denies almost all of China's maritime rights and interests, that would be tantamount to substantially undermining the foundation of negotiations," Liu Feng, an expert on Chinese maritime issues, told the Global Times.

Dunham said that the US is a close ally of the Philippines and is likely to remain active in the South China Sea as long as the dispute between the Philippines and China prevails.

The best way to de-escalate the situation is for China and the Philippines to make progress on the diplomatic front, with or without the participation of the US, Dunham said.