The recent meeting between the two top admirals in the U.S. Navy and the People's Liberation Army Navy has failed to defuse tensions over the South China Sea worsened by China's refusal to abide by an international court ruling that labeled as illegal its claim to own the South China Sea.

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Admiral John Richardson, U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations, came away from his five-day visit to China telling media the Obama administration made it "absolutely clear" to China the U.S. will continue engaging in flights and naval activities in the disputed waters despite China's objections.

Adm. Richardson also warned China it would view with concern any attempt by China to declare an air identification zone (ADIZ) over the South China Sea, or any Chinese attempt to build artificial islands in the Scarborough Shoal, which is owned by the Philippines but which was seized by China in 2012.

He also said Washington will stand by its allies in the region -- the Philippines and Japan -- to whom it is bound by mutual defense treaties.

Adm. Richardson said he "made it absolutely clear" to the Chinese that Washington will look after its "interests in the area and commitments to allies."

His stern warnings came after his PLAN counterpart, Admiral Wu Shengli, said China will "never stop" work on building more man-made islands in the South China Sea.

Chinese intransigence has led Washington to state it will continue the Navy's freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea.

China has ignored the historic July 12 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that handed a major victory to the Philippines by explicitly rejecting China's claims to own most of the South China Sea. The court said China's territorial claims in the South China Sea have no legal basis under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that China ratified in 2006.

China has said it would exit from UNCLOS but has not had the nerve to do so since this action will make it an outlaw state flouting the rules-based international order that is the norm among nations.

TagsAdmiral John Richardson, U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations, South China Sea, Philippines, Japan, Admiral Wu Shengli