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 China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5
trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines,
Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims..
Freedom of overflights and navigation doesn't mean allowing foreign
warships and military jets to violate other countries' sovereignty
and security, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement to Reuters on
Monday, after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry accused China of
restricting such movements in the region last week.
China sees freedom of navigation in the region as key because it is
an important conduit for trade and natural resources, the ministry
said.
Kerry told a meeting of regional leaders in Kuala Lumpur last week
that China's construction of facilities on man-made islands for
"military purposes" was raising tension and risked "militarization"
by other claimant states.
 Kerry also criticized "restrictions" put in place in recent months
by China, saying the U.S. would not accept any restrictions on
freedom of navigation and overflights.
China has repeatedly warned Philippine military aircraft away from
the artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago of the South China
Sea, Philippine military officials have said.
The Chinese navy also issued eight warnings to the crew of a U.S.
P8-A Poseidon surveillance aircraft when it conducted overflights in
the area in May, according to CNN, which was aboard the U.S.
aircraft.
In June, China said it would soon complete a phase of its
reclamation projects, adding it would continue to build facilities
on the man-made islands.
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Ongoing reclamation activities in the Spratly Islands include
civilian facilities for the "public good" including hospitals,
maritime research institutes, lighthouses and search and rescue
facilities, the Foreign Ministry said.
A Philippine lawmaker said on Monday he had information that a
Chinese coast guard ship dropped anchor more than a month ago near a
rusting Philippine Navy transport ship in the disputed Second Thomas
Shoal.
"I think China has no intention of leaving the area and they are
waiting for our ship to collapse or prevent us from reinforcing that
ship," Congressman Francisco Acedillo, a former air force pilot,
said at a naval base in Manila.
Acedillo said the presence of a Chinese ship within Second Thomas
Shoal was a serious threat to the Philippines.
(Reporting by Megha Rajagopalan in BEIJING and Manuel Mogato in
MANILA; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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