“In fact, there has never been such a problem with freedom of navigation in the South China Sea”, Wang said, adding “the situation in the South China Sea is overall stable”.
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China claims most of the South China Sea.
“The U.S.is not a party involved in the South China Sea dispute, and the South China Sea is not an issue between China and the U.S”.
Kerry said steps by China, Vietnam and others had created an “escalatory cycle”.
China hopes the USA abides by its promises not to take sides in the dispute and stop “hyping up” the issue and tensions, especially over China’s “limited” military positions there, she said.
China has deployed fighter jets to a disputed island in the South China Sea, a USA official told CNN on Tuesday.
Wang is scheduled to be in the United States from Tuesday until Thursday.
His comments are likely to anger Beijing, whose top diplomat is due to meet with Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington later Tuesday.
When asked about the earlier Fox News story in Beijing, Wang said the deployment of the missiles was for “defensive purposes”.
Cuarteron Reef is one of seven islands China has recently expanded through a massive land reclamation programme in the Spratly chain.
Other claimants to parts of the waterways are Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan. The state-controlled Global Times said the Defense Ministry of China revealed that the defense facilities on the islands have been in place for years.
In 2014, a Chinese fighter jet came dangerously close to a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft in the vicinity of Woody Island, according to the Pentagon.
Some U.S. officials said that the Chinese have repeatedly gone back on a pledge made by President Xi Jinping while visiting the White House previous year that the country would not militarize the islands.
Ships of Chinese Coast Guard are seen near the Chinese oil rig Haiyang Shi You 981 in disputed waters in the South China Sea. It was not the first time Beijing sent jets there but it raised new questions about its intentions. It also flew a B-52 bomber near Cuarteron Reef in December in a flight it says was unintentional.
In remarks to Reuters on 23 February, Admiral Harry Harris, the head of US Pacific Command, said China was “clearly militarising” the South China Sea.
“We are very concerned that these actions are increasing tensions in the region and are counterproductive”, the USA ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Nina Hachigian, told reporters on Wednesday. “This shouldn’t seem provocative”.
“We are looking at the possibility of reaching agreement on the draft resolution and passing it in the near future”, he said at the press conference at the State Department.
“They have to be prepared for any eventuality”, Kerry said.
“Oftentimes one can not simply give a definition to it”, he said.
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On Monday, new civilian satellite imagery from CSIS showed a possible high frequency radar installation being constructed in late January.
