China will continue to build military facilities in disputed South China Sea

China said it will continue to build military and civilian facilities on its artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea and said the United States was testing it by sending warships through the area.

“Building and maintaining necessary military facilities, this is what is required for China’s national defence and for the protection of those islands and reefs,” vice-foreign minister, Liu Zhenmin, said at the annual East Asia Summit, in Kuala Lumpur.

China, which claims almost the entire energy-rich South China Sea, has been transforming reefs into artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago and building airfields, and other facilities, on them. China planned to “expand and upgrade” the civilian facilities on the islands “to better serve commercial ships, fishermen, to help distressed vessels and provide more public services”, Liu said. China rejected the notion that it was militarising the South China Sea.

That has prompted concerns in Washington, and across the region, that Beijing is trying to militarise its claims in the South China Sea. Washington was testing Beijing with its insistence on “freedom of navigation” patrols in the strategic waterway, Liu said. Earlier this month, US B-52 bombers flew near the islands, signalling Washington’s determination to challenge Beijing’s claim. At the end of October, the USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, sailed around one of them. “This time, in a very high-profile manner, the US sent military vessels within 12 nautical miles of China’s islands and reefs,” Liu said. “This has gone beyond the scope of freedom of navigation. It is a political provocation and the purpose is to test China’s response.”