US to have ‘serious conversation’ with China over its militarization
US Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed “serious concern” over China’s alleged militarization in South China Sea.
Speaking to reporters in Washington on Wednesday, Kerry did not confirm earlier reports on China’s deployment of missiles on a South China Sea island.
"We have said repeatedly with respect to China that the standard that should be applied to all countries with respect to the South China Sea is no militarization,” noted the secretary of state.
Kerry said the US was expecting a “very serious conversation” with Beijing over what the United States considers as a military build-up in a region gripped by dispute.
“When (Chinese) President Xi (Jinping) was here in Washington, he stood in the Rose Garden with President Obama and said China will not militarize in the South China Sea. But there is every evidence, every day that there has been an increase of militarization of one kind or another. It's of serious concern. We have had these conversations with the Chinese and I am confident that over the next days we will have further very serious conversation on this.”
He further stressed employment of diplomacy rather than militarization to resolve issues in the region.
“My hope is that China will realize that it is important to try to resolve the jurisdictional issues of the South China Sea not through unilateral action, not through force, not through militarization, but through diplomacy and by working with the other countries and claimants in trying to resolve these differences. And we'll have more to say on this in the next days for sure.”
Since last October, US warships and bombers have operated close to Beijing's artificial islands.
China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, which is also claimed in part by Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
US media outlets reported earlier that Beijing had deployed surface-to-air missile launchers to Woody Island, citing satellite imagery confirmed by US officials.
“The imagery from ImageSat International (ISI) shows two batteries of eight surface-to-air missile launchers as well as a radar system on Woody Island, part of the Paracel Island chain in the South China Sea,” Fox News said in a report Tuesday.
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