Singapore---The United States on Saturday vowed to keep sending military aircraft and ships to disputed parts of the South China Sea and called for an immediate halt to reclamation works by Beijing in the tense region.
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told a high-level security conference in Singapore that Beijing's intensifying reclamation activity was "out of step" with international norms.
"First, we want a peaceful resolution of all disputes. To that end, there should be an immediate and lasting halt to land reclamation by all claimants," Carter said at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue on security with a high-level Chinese military delegation attending.
"We also oppose any further militarisation of disputed features," he said.
He acknowledged that other claimants have developed outposts of differing scope and degree, including Vietnam with 48, the Philippines with eight, Malaysia with five and Taiwan with one.
"Yet, one country has gone much farther and much faster than any other.
"And that's China. China has reclaimed over 2,000 acres, more than all other claimants combined and more than in the entire history of the region. And China did so in only the last 18 months," Carter said.
"It is unclear how much farther China will go. That is why this stretch of water has become the source of tension in the region and front-page news around the world."
- Chinese actions 'reasonable and justified' -
In comments during a question and answer session after Carter's speech, a Chinese military official said his criticism was "groundless and not constructive".
"Freedom of navigation in the South China Sea is not at all an issue because the freedom has never been affected," said Senior Colonel Zhao Xiaozhuo from China's Academy of Military Science.
"I think China's activities are legitimate, reasonable and justified," Zhao added.
Chinese delegation head Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the general staff department at the People's Liberation Army, is scheduled to address the forum on Sunday.
Last week the Chinese military ordered a US Navy P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft to leave an area above the heavily disputed Spratly Islands. But the American plane ignored the demand.
"There should be no mistake: the United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as US forces do all around the world," Carter said in Singapore.
"America, alongside its allies and partners in the regional architecture, will not be deterred from exercising these rights -- the rights of all nations. After all, turning an underwater rock into an airfield simply does not afford the rights of sovereignty or permit restrictions on international air or maritime transit."
AFP
