BEIJING, China (CCTV) — There are other countries than China to be accused of militarizing the South China Sea, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in Beijing on Tuesday, during a press conference held on the sidelines of the national legislature annual session.
Wang made the remarks in response to a reporter’s question about China’s building of defense facilities on islands and reefs in the South China Sea.
He first reiterated China’s sovereignty over the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters.
“The Nansha Islands are China’s integral territory. Every Chinese has the obligation to defense them, and China has not and will not make new territorial claims,” said Wang.
“In building defense facilities on our own islands and reefs, China is actually exercising the rights to self-preservation and to self-defense on the international law,” he continued.
“China was not the first country that has deployed weapons in the Nansha Islands. We are not the country that has deployed the most weapons and we are not the country that conducts the most frequent military activities. People talked a lot about militarization. I think China cannot be accused of militarization. This label is more suited to some other countries,” said the Foreign Minister.
Wang added that China is not just building necessary defense facilities on the islands and reefs, but more importantly it is building up civilian facilities to provide public services to the international community.
Once the ongoing construction operations are completed, China will consider inviting journalists, including foreign journalists, to visit the islands and reefs and to do the report, Wang said.
Wang also talked about China’s support of the freedom of navigation in the waters.
“China is the largest country bordering the South China Sea, due to which we hope more than any other countries to uphold freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. Thanks to the constant efforts of China and other regional countries, the South China Sea is one of the safest and freest sea lines in the world. And I want to remind some people that the freedom of navigation doesn’t give them a license to do whatever they want. If someone wants to muddy the waters in the South China Sea and to destabilize Asia, China would not agree to that and I think the overwhelming majority countries in the region will not allow that to happen,” Wang said.
He also introduced the positive efforts made by China to ensure regional peace and stability.
“We have set up a China-ASEAN maritime cooperation fund which has supported over 40 cooperation projects. We have actively advancing the COC Consultation. The parties have reached two lists of commonalities and entered into the new phase discussing crucial and complex issues. We have initiated to develop the preventative measures for managing maritime risks and we have offered to set up the maritime emergency diplomatic hot line and the maritime joint search and rescue hot line as soon as possible,” said Wang, noting that those have shown China’s sincerity.
He said China has the capability and confidence to work with ASEAN countries to maintain peace and stability and development in the South China Sea.
