The militarization of facilities in the South China Sea does not help resolve maritime claims there, US Secretary of State John Kerry said before he was to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday.
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After talks in Washington, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State John Kerry said the draft was still being “evaluated” by officials before being submitted to the UN Security Council.
The top diplomats of the USA and China say they are hopeful of reaching agreement soon on a United Nations resolution to punish North Korea after its recent nuclear test and rocket launch.
China is “clearly militarising the South China (Sea)”, said Admiral Harry Harris, head of the US Pacific Command, adding: “You’d have to believe in a flat Earth to think otherwise”.
China’s Foreign Ministry said ahead of Wang’s visit Beijing’s military deployments in the South China Sea were no different from U.S. deployments on Hawaii.
The rhetoric has heated up since it emerged last week that China had deployed anti-aircraft missiles on a disputed island in the Paracel chain.
China has occupied Woody Island for 50 years.
The U.S. and its Asian allies are watching now whether China puts military assets on artificial islands it has built in the Spratly island chain, further south.
His ministry said the three-day trip comes with Beijing and Washington at loggerheads over militarization in the South China Sea, while at the same time trying to find common ground on how to deal with North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs in the wake of Pyongyang’s latest tests.
According to the CSIS report, the Chinese regime’s radar facilities in the Spratlys and construction of “new runways and air defense capabilities” on other islands suggest a “long-term anti-access strategy by China-one that would see it establish effective control over the sea and airspace throughout the South China Sea”. For the South China Sea waters to be quiet, its ugly custom of smearing China should cease and steer clear of any move that stirs up tension in the area.
“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”.
For much of their news conference, both Kerry and Wang hailed what they described as growing U.S.-China cooperation on issues including the Iran nuclear deal, climate change, counterterrorism and ending the civil war in Syria.
Tuesday’s talks also take place amid rising tensions between the two sides over China’s vehement opposition to the proposed deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system to South Korea to better defend against North Korean threats.
She said China has the right to safeguard its territorial sovereignty in the South China Sea, which is historically Chinese territory.
China is being accused of trying to dominate East Asia by deploying missiles and radar in the South China Sea.
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China’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement on its microblog that the facilities China had established on the “relevant islands and reefs” included navigation and meteorological equipment.
