Chinese Foreign Ministry defends military deployments in South China Sea ahead of US visit, blames United States

BEIJING - China’s Foreign Ministry has released a number of statements defending its decision to deploy its military in the disputed South China Sea as Foreign Minister Wang Yi prepares to visit the US later this week. Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the deployments in the area “are no different from deployments by the United States on Hawaii”, and neither confirmed nor denied recent US accusations of China deploying surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island.

Hua said Washington should not use the issue of military facilities on the islands as a “pretext to make a fuss. “The US is not involved in the South China Sea dispute, and this is not and should not become a problem between China and the United States,” she said.

Hua later added that she hoped the US abides by its promises not to take sides in the dispute and stops “hyping up” the issue and tensions. The “biggest cause” of China’s militarisation in the area were frequent, close-in patrols and surveillance conducted by US ships and aircraft in recent years, she said.

In addition to the South China Sea issues, Hua said Minister Wang is expected to have “in-depth discussions” on North Korea, and she repeated China’s opposition to the possible US deployment of an advanced US missile defence system following Pyongyang’s recent rocket launch.

This will be the second meeting between Wang and US Secretary of State John Kerry concerning North Korea in one month, as both sides seek to complete drawn-out negotiations on a UN Security Council resolution in response to the nuclear test on January 6 and the launch of what Pyongyang calls a satellite on February 7.  www.webershandwick.cn (ATI),