Alwaght- China has lambasted as “ridiculous” claims by the US about alleged militarization of the South China Sea.
“Hyping up militarization in the South China Sea by some people in the US is quite preposterous,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a daily press briefing on Thursday.
“The United States military presence in the South China Sea is greater than that of China and other countries that surround the seas combined,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing.
Hua also questioned whether U.S. Navy “freedom of navigation” operations were really about preserving the right for ships to sail through the region or an attempt to maintain hegemony.
“This sounds like a case of a thief crying ‘stop thief’ to cover their misdeeds,” she said.
Hua’s comments came two days after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that the US would continue to confront what Washington sees as China’s militarization of islands in the South China Sea. He also called the disputed sea as “international waters” where “a lot of nations want to see freedom of navigation.”
Speaking at a separate briefing, defense ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang said they had noted that the United States had recently been “turning a blind eye to the facts and hyping up” the militarization of the South China Sea.
No country has the right to “make irresponsible remarks” about China’s building of necessary defense facilities on its own territory, Ren said.
The Global Times, a Chinese newspaper close to the government, said in an editorial on Thursday that China must prepare to forcefully respond to any “extreme” U.S. interference in the South China Sea.
“Aside from deploying defensive weapons on the Xisha Islands, China should build a powerful deterrence system, including an aerial base and a roving naval force and base,” the paper said.
Over the weekend, two US Navy warships, the Higgins guided-missile destroyer and the Antietam, a guided-missile cruiser, sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Paracel Islands of the South China Sea islands, which are claimed by China, drawing strong criticism from Beijing.
China’s sovereignty claim over the whole South China Sea has been challenged by Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. The sea serves as a gateway to global sea routes, though which about $3.4 trillion of trade passes each year.
Washington openly opposes China’s claim over the sea and it also constantly accuses Beijing of undertaking a land reclamation program through building artificial islands in the sea and deploying weapons there. Washington also says Beijing could use the islands as military bases.
