The ongoing issue of China’s intimidating presence in the South China Sea has anxious the United States and Japan.
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Other countries “should not deliberately stir up trouble but contribute to the peace and stability of the region”, he said.
The islands are also claimed by a number of other regional powers: Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.
“Those islands and reefs are far from China’s mainland, it is necessary to maintain and build necessary military facilities”, he said.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has proposed the integration of the “One Belt and One Road” initiative with the regional strategic plans of ASEAN countries.
The comments by a Chinese vice foreign minister came on the sidelines of the annual Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur. Last October, the United States challenged China’s “freedom of navigation” claims by sailing through the 12-nautical mile zone near the artificial islands.
China today asked countries in and outside the South China Sea to make concerted efforts to avoid militarising the region, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur called for an early adoption of a code of conduct to avoid potential conflicts.
The USA believes China’s actions pose a threat to freedom of navigation in the region and refuses to acknowledge Beijing’s sovereignty over the islands.
Liow said there has always been concern within Southeast Asia that the US can often be distracted and have its attention drawn away by events elsewhere in the world.
Lawyers for the Philippines will appear before a panel of global judges in The Hague on Tuesday, November 24, seeking a ruling that could bolster territorial claims by a series of countries against China in the resource-rich South China Sea, Reuters reports.
Meanwhile, Japan on Sunday backed the USA sailing warships close to disputed land in the South China Sea but said it had no plans to send its own maritime forces to support the operation.
Liu said China and Asean also agreed to hold commemorative activities to celebrate their 25th anniversary of dialogue relations next year.
Beijing has displayed irritation with Washington’s expressions of support for the claims of China’s neighbours, and once again refused to budge on the issue in Kuala Lumpur.
The true goal of the USA intrusion is to test how China will react to this kind of provocations, Liu told a press briefing at the end of the East Asia Summit in Malaysia.
Liu said that there are more than 100 islands, reefs, atolls and shoals in the Nansha islands, using the Chinese name for the Spratlys, and nearly 50 only emerge at low tide.
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He reiterated China’s position that its construction of artificial islands in the sea was created to “provide public service” to the region by helping ships, fishing craft and disaster relief efforts.
