In a speech addressed during his three-day trip to expand economic ties with UK, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced his administration's two-pronged foreign policy of power and peace.

Li said that his administration seeks to establish a "stable external environment" despite rival territorial claims with nations including Japan and the Philippines.

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China's territorial ambitions in the South China Sea have increasingly raised hostile maritime tension in the region. With China claiming nearly all of the sea, claimant countries have been working together to tackle parallel disputes with China. They agree that China is the instigator of the latest territorial disputes that have been dragging on for decades without much confrontation.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino is set to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on June 24 to discuss strategic partnership between their countries. 

Last week, China-Japan relations plummeted with a series of dangerous military plane encounters inside China's unilaterally proclaimed Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea.

Meanwhile, deadly anti-China riots were staged in Vietnam in protest of China's continuous presence in the contested seas. Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released on Tuesday a statement reaffirming his country's claims over the contested Paracel Islands and demanding China to recall the deep-sea rig that threatens to cause further damage to bilaterial ties between bordering nations.

"Expansion is not in the Chinese DNA nor can we accept the logic that a strong country is bound to be hegemonic," stated Li. 

But he added that his administration would take resolute measures against incidents provoking to undermine the stability of the region.

Tagscontested waters