It's the U.S. that is militarizing the South China Sea, not China, a senior Chinese military official said in an exclusive interview with CGTN’s Global Watch program on Sunday.
Zhou Bo, the Senior Colonel and director of Security Cooperation Center of China’s Central Military Commission, made the remarks at the 17th Asia Security Summit in Singapore, in response to recent remarks by U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis.
Zhou said China’s land reclamation in the South China Sea is not prohibited by any international law and the U.S. is the prominent factor in instability of the region.
During the Obama administration, the U.S. Navy conducted a line of operations in the South China Sea. But in Trump’s time, the number has increased to nine, suggesting the U.S. has regularized its operations in the South China Sea, he said.
The annual Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, is an international security conference. The three-day summit is scheduled to conclude on Sunday.
