China hopes the United States will take real actions to "lower the temperature" and reduce the tensions over their rift on the issue of the South China Sea, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said Thursday.
In an interview with U.S. cable TV news network CNN, Cui said that it's hoped that Washington will refrain from making coercive statements and taking actions against China over the issue.
"So I hope people in the U.S. will refrain from making all the coercive statements, will refrain from making all the coercive actions there," the Chinese diplomat said.
He was referring to the U.S. calls for a halt to China's reclamation activities in the region, while threatening to continue sending military ships and planes to sail near or fly over the islands and reefs where China is building mainly civilian facilities.
Despite the rising tensions between China and the U.S. caused by the row on the South China Sea, Cui said he did not think the two powers will go to confrontation over the issue as feared by many.
"I don't think we should allow this single issue to dominate our bilateral agenda. So I don't think we should go to confrontation and conflicts just over this issue," he said.
Cui rejected the U.S. claim that China is changing the status quo in the South China Sea, citing similar reclamation activities already done by other claimants long time before.
"I think the status quo has been changed by others for a long, long time, so what we are doing is to sort of restore the status quo as it should be. So there's no reason for others to make such accusation against china," Cui said.
The Chinese envoy reiterated China's position that its activities in the South China Sea are fully within the scope of its sovereignty and are mainly for civilian purposes, adding that the facilities being built "will mainly help ships of china and other countries."
"Of course, we have some defense facilities there, but it's only for defense," he said.
Cui criticized Washington for continuing to send military reconnaissance planes to the region to spy on China's activities, because such U.S. action is against the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Asked whether China intends to set up an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the South China Sea, Cui replied that China has a right to do so, but it will do this based on "our assessment of the situation and we will certainly do it with caution."
He noted that the U.S. was the first country to set up an ADIZ and there are over 20 other countries that have already done so.
Cui said he believed that the common interests between China and the U.S. far outweigh their differences, and the two countries can have meaningful cooperation on many issues such as the climate change.
