South China Sea: Beijing says it won’t stop building on artificial islands

Kuala Lumpur: China said on Sunday it will continue to build military and civilian facilities on its artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea and the United States was testing it by sending warships through the area.

“Building and maintaining necessary military facilities, this is what is required for China’s national defence and for the protection of those islands and reefs,” Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.

China ‘will not allow US to violate its territorial waters in the South China Sea’

Chinese vessels in the waters near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Photo: Reuters

 

China on Friday said it would not stand for violations of its territorial waters in the name of freedom of navigation, as the United States considers sailing warships close to China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea.

A US defence official said Washington was mulling sending ships within the next two weeks to waters inside the 12-nautical-mile zone that Beijing claims as territory around islands it has built in the Spratly chain.