China says U.S. guilty of ‘political provocation’ in South China Sea

Obama on Saturday called on countries to stop building artificial islands and militarising their claims and said the United States would continue to assert its freedom of navigation rights in the sea.

But Defence Minister Gen Nakatani played down the suggestion after bilateral meetings with Australian counterpart Marise Payne and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in Sydney.

Reacting to Abe, Wong Hei, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said, “China will be vigilant against Japan’s interference in the South China Sea issue, its military return to the South China Sea in particular”.

Obama said he commended ASEAN for working to create a code of conduct for the South China Sea “including the peaceful resolution of disputes, freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight”.

China has declared ownership of virtually all of the South China Sea, conflicting with the various claims of Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Brunei.

China has held that disputes should be addressed by countries directly concerned through friendly consultations and negotiations in a peaceful way, and peace and stability in the South China Sea being jointly maintained by China and ASEAN countries.

“To build necessary military defense facilities on islands far away from our mainland is both required by the national defense need and the need to safeguard our islands and reefs”, Liu said.

The maritime issue has become the stage for a big-power confrontation between China and the United States, which warns that Beijing’s actions could threaten freedom of navigation. “They should not be mistaken for the militarization of the South China Sea”.

Washington has repeatedly said it does not recognise the Chinese claims. “The reaction to what it has done in the South China Sea for the past two years or so, whether in ASEAN or around the world, seems to be a net minus for China’s image”, Singaporean diplomat Ong Keng Yong told a forum on Friday in the city-state.

Aquino kept up a drumbeat of growing criticism of China’s expansion of tiny atolls into fully-fledged islands, as leaders including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met in Malaysia.

Liu called the USS Larsen’s voyage last month a “political provocation”.

The South China Sea quarrel comes after similar tensions during the APEC summit in Manila, which took place just before the ASEAN summit. While attending the APEC event in the Philippines, U.S. President Obama toured the Philippine Navy’s flagship BRP Gregorio del Pilar – another show of support over regional naval disputes.

The Community declaration was signed by leaders of the 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Kuala Lumpur, this year’s host of the group’s annual summit. This came a week after Islamic State militants killed 129 people in coordinated attacks in Paris.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak opened the weekend series of meetings earlier on Saturday, calling on world leaders to confront Islamist extremism.