BEIJING – China and many countries have recently carried out jointmilitary exercises, training and competitions, which includes the friendlyPakistani armed forces.
These joint exercises, training and competition help the militaries ofparticipating countries to enhance understanding, deepen mutual trust,improve ability to deal with multiple security threats and jointly maintainregional peace and stability, this was stated by the spokesperson ofChinese Ministry of National Defense (MND) senior Colonel Wu Qian here at amonthly news briefing.
To a question about South China Sea, he said, the islands in the SouthChina Sea have been the Chinese territory ever since the ancient times.
It is also a fact that freedom of navigation in the region has never been aproblem. For a period of time, the US side has been hyping up the SouthChina Sea issue, attempting to blame China for harming freedom ofnavigation in the region, he added.
Colonel Wu Qian pointed out that a lie will always remain a lie although ithas been told a thousand times. The island construction by China is mainlyfor civilian purposes. It is reasonable and legitimate.
The deployment of necessary defense facilities on these islands is also therights a sovereign state is entitled to. It is reasonable and legitimate.When US military aircraft flew over these islands with provocation, it isalso reasonable and legitimate for China to warn these aircraft accordingto relevant rules and regulations.At the same time, China noticed that the US side has been ignoring thepositive efforts China has made to maintain peace and stability in theSouth China Sea.
For example, recently, we released a piece of news about China’s sending aprofessional search and rescue ship named as South China Sea Rescue-115 tothe Nansha Islands.
However, they did not find any media coverage from the US media. As far ashe knows, this ship has conducted three successful rescue operations,rescuing one fishing boat and four fishermen.
He reminded the US side not to purposefully turn a blind eye to China’sefforts. China will, as always, make positive efforts to maintain peace andstability in the South China Sea.