Vietnam protests Chinese actions in contested waters

Beijing “really needs” its defenses in the South China Sea in the face of a militarization process being pushed by the United States, and can deploy whatever equipment it wants on its own soil, the defense ministry said. “I’m concerned about it from the sense that I would find that to be destabilizing and provocative”.

The combination of those additional resources should be enough to deter China in the Western Pacific, Harris said.

“US-China military-to-military relations are maintaining stable development momentum”, Wu said.

China would send warships to participate, Wu said, but did not say how many or what kind. “China is China… In the blood and the veins of China, there are no veins of expansionism, there is no mentality or urge to be saviours of the world”, he said. “That country is supposed to know well about that”.

“We don’t interfere in your seeking defense budget funds, but you can’t carelessly smear China while asking for more money”, Wu said.

This file aerial view taken on July 27, 2012 shows part of the city of Sansha on the island of Yongxing, also known as Woody island in the disputed Paracel chain, which China now considers part of Hainan province.

Massive land reclamation by China in the Spratlys and its other recent actions have caused concern among countries in the region and in the United States.

A total of $5.3 trillion trade transits the sea, including over $1 trillion in USA trade.

Two sail-by operations have been conducted so far, one in October and January, prompting harsh responses from Beijing calling the maneuvers a military provocation. “So, we’re having the discussions now, and we’ll see how they turn out”.

“We must exercise our freedom of navigation, or we risk losing it”. “It’s of a serious concern”.

In this Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016 photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, people pose for a group photo together after landing at the airfield on the Spratly Islands, also known as Nansha Islands in Chinese, of the South China Sea. “So that’s what’s changed”.

China denies it has aggressive intent. Harris noted that while the U.S.is not at war with China, Navy ships are operating within range of Chinese assets – the country is a threat he continues to monitor. “And if China wanted to exert a lot of influence on somebody to prevent THAAD from being considered going into Korea, then they should exert that influence on North Korea”, he said. He did not elaborate.

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.

When the moderator, CSIS senior adviser Chris Johnson, subsequently asked if Beijing’s opposition to Thaad contradicted its own assertions that it had a right to deploy military hardware, Mr Wang stressed that its deployments were critical for defending itself in an already heavily militarised area.

Harris told the Senate Armed Services Committee that China is militarizing the South China Sea, “and you have to believe in a flat earth to think otherwise”.

“I believe that we need to do them and we need to do them on a regular basis”, Harris said.