Beijing has accused the United States of seeking maritime hegemony in the South China Sea following a naval patrol that challenged China's territorial assertions over a group of islands also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

Claiming the US navy's operations in the South China Sea are in violation of international law, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Monday that patrols in the area pose a threat to regional peace and stability.

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"It is, in essence, a pursuit of maritime hegemony by the US under the cloak of freedom of navigation, which has been met with firm opposition from members of the international community, developing countries in particular," said Lu.  "It is highly dangerous and irresponsible for the US to do so."

Military Muscles

Lu made the statement after the US Navy guided missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur entered waters near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on Saturday. The Pentagon has said the operation was intended to demonstrate Washington's defiance of overlapping territorial claims on the area.

China is asserting sovereignty over an estimated 80 percent of the South China Sea.  Brunei, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines have rival claims.

The Obama administration has in the past weeks warned Beijing that it would challenge China's claim that much of the South China Sea falls within its territorial borders. 

"The flexing of military muscles and the creating of tension by the US under the pretext of the freedom of navigation is the biggest cause of militarization of the South China Sea," Lu said.  "We advise the US to stop as soon as possible the action that brings good to none."

China has been rapidly dredging sand onto reefs in the contested waters for the past year, creating seven new islets in the region.   Other claimants have built facilities of their own. 

Runways and Docks

Environmental experts have protested against the scale and rapidity of construction activities in the territory.  In December, the BBC correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes narrated how he swam under water at the Spratly or Nansha Islands to discover that the sea floor was covered with vast tracts of shattered coral.

On Thursday, the commander of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry B. Harris, told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that China's island-building campaign has reclaimed more than 3,000 acres of land from the disputed waters in the past 18 months alone. 

In comparison, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan have reclaimed a total 215 acres of land from the South China Sea over the past 40 years, Harris said. 

While Beijing has consistently claimed that it does not seek to militarize the area, Washington and other claimants have taken particular exception to China's enlargement of atolls and reefs into larger islands outfitted with military-size runways and facilities to park fighter jets and berth naval ships.

"If they [China] are to build all of their reef projects, they will control all of the South China Sea militarily with the exception of the US," Harris warned, adding that the US Navy will be conducting more freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea in the months ahead.

TagsChina-US relations, Freedom of Navigation, Territorial disputes in the South China Sea