China says its warships to join major US-hosted naval drills

China says its military facilities in the South China Sea are “legal and appropriate”, and on Tuesday, in an apparent reference to USA patrols, Wang said Beijing hoped not to see more close-up reconnaissance, or the dispatch of missile destroyers or strategic bombers.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Charles Jose would not comment on the protest, but said that the South China Sea issue will definitely be tackled at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Laos which begins the same day. “Accordingly, we shall continue to cooperate with other countries, including India, to explore and exploit resources within our 200-nautical-mile EEZ”, Thanh told a select gathering in Delhi.

China’s claims to nearly all of the South China Sea are widely disputed and the body of water has always been viewed as a potential flashpoint.

The operations have incensed China, but reassured allies like Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, which feel Beijing is muscling in on their territory.

In 1974, China used force to occupy the Paracel islands which were under Vietnam’s administration. China recently drew an interesting comparison – saying there’s no difference between its defense of its islands and USA defense of Hawaii.

The report, which based its analysis on satellite images from January and February, said China already had significant radar coverage of the northern part of the South China Sea given its mainland installations and in the Paracel Islands to the northwest of the Spratlys.

She said China’s pursuit of peaceful development and good neighborly relations shouldn’t be called into question.

Wu also criticized US patrols in the South China Sea.

Ministry spokesman Col. Wu Qian on Thursday strongly criticized Adm. Harry Harris Jr.’s testimony before Congress this week, in which Harris said China was militarizing the South China Sea.

China claims that almost all of the South China Sea is now and has always been sovereign Chinese water and that neighboring countries who control some of its islets, reefs and shoals do so illegally.

China has also deployed surface-to-air missiles and lengthened a runway to accommodate fighter jets on one such islet, Woody Island.

Beijing’s construction work and military deployments in the South China Sea have been at the center of a buildup of tensions with Washington since previous year.

Kerry and Wang are expected to discuss Tuesday how to reach a compromise over a U.N. Security Council resolution against the North Korea, and also the mounting differences over the South China Sea – issues that have put a growing strain on efforts to forge a cooperative relationship. Truc said a large-scale conflict is quite possible if no effective solution is deployed to “stop China”.

Even the USA has said some of this equipment had been placed there in the past, Wu said. This is the kind of thing you’d need for over-the-horizon high-frequency radar systems, which can detect objects at up to 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles), including stealth aircraft.

China has already built four nuclear-powered ballistic missile JIN-class submarines, with an unknown number still being built.