China has accused the United States of inciting confrontation in the Indo-Pacific by purportedly deploying weapons and increasing military activities in the South China Sea.
Mao Ning, spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, said it is the US that is "the biggest source of instability in the South China Sea," as she responded to US State Secretary Antony Blinken's condemnation of Beijing's continued aggressive actions in the waters.
“We remain concerned about China’s increasingly dangerous and unlawful actions on the South and East China Seas, which have injured people, harmed vessels from ASEAN nations and contradict commitments to peaceful resolution of disputes,” Blinken told the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) leaders during the regional bloc's summit in Laos.
Ning asserted China's unilateral claim over the South China Sea, saying its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests were supposedly "established in the long course of history."
She said they are also solidly grounded in history and the law.
The Chinese official also said that it is only China and the parties on the South China Sea issue that have every capability and wisdom to properly address disputes through dialogue and consultation as well as jointly get the situation at sea under control.
"The US and individual countries outside the region are upgrading deployment of weapons and military activities in the South China Sea to incite confrontation and create tensions," she said.
Mao hit the US' deployment of a mid-range capability missile system to the Philippines during the Balikatan Exercises.
She said it was the first time the US deployed such system outside its territory and in the Asia-Pacific region since the end of the Cold War.
"The deployment of offensive strategic weapon at other countries’ doorstep by a nuclear power seriously disrupts regional peace and stability, undermines other countries’ legitimate security interest, and contravenes people’s aspiration for peace and development," she said.
"China firmly opposes the US’s deployment of the land-based Mid-Range Capability missile system in the Asia-Pacific, including the Philippines, whatever its form," she added.