CHINA-US: SOUTH CHINA SEA
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Morning Star, the UK-based affiliate of the official mouthpiece of the CCP, People's Daily,quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying as saying at a routine press briefing on May 13, 2015, that US officials should clarify their remarks and warned that countries should avoid “risky and provocative approaches to maintain regional peace and stability.” Ms Hua Chunying said that, while China had always advocated freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, “freedom of navigation does not give one country’s military aircraft and ships free access to another country’s territorial waters and airspace.” She warned that China would resolutely safeguard its territorial sovereignty, urging the US not to take any risks or make any provocations.
Hua Chunying was reacting to remarks made on May 12 by an anonymous US official that Washington was planning to send ships and aircraft to “assert freedom of navigation” around Chinese-made artificial islands in the strategic seaway.
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