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 China's relations with several Southeast Asian countries,
especially the Philippines and Vietnam who have competing claims in
the South China Sea, have been strained over Beijing's increasingly
assertive tone on territorial claims in an area through which $5
trillion in ship-borne trade passes annually.
Beijing's move last year to step up the creation of artificial
islands, which it says are mostly for civilian purposes, has drawn
strong criticism from Washington.
Fan Changlong, one of the vice chairmen of the Central Military
Commission which controls the Chinese armed forces and is headed by
President Xi Jinping, told a high-level security forum that China
had sought to avoid conflict.
"We will never recklessly resort to the use of force, even on issues
of sovereignty, and have done our utmost to avoid unexpected
conflicts," Fan told the forum, attended by Southeast Asian defense
ministers.
 Fan reiterated that China's islands "will not affect freedom of
navigation in the South China Sea" and said recently completed
lighthouses on Cuarteron Reef and Johnson South Reef in the Spratly
archipelago "have already begun to provide navigation services to
all nations".
"We will continue to resolve disputes and differences with directly
related parties through friendly consultation and are committed to
working with relevant parties to maintain regional security and
stability," Fan said.
The United States says international law prohibits claiming
territory around artificial islands built on previously submerged
reefs and that the U.S. military would sail or fly wherever
international law allowed.
Beijing, however, denies it has militarized the South China Sea and
has warned that it would not stand for violations of its territorial
waters in the name of freedom of navigation.
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Gary Roughead, former U.S. chief of naval operations, told the forum
the scale of the building of ports and airfields in the seas by
China raised legitimate concerns.
"I do not see an influx of tourists clamoring to visit these remote
outposts," he said.
Some analysts in Washington believe the United States has already
decided to conduct freedom-of-navigation operations inside the
12-nautical-mile limits that China claims around islands built on
reefs in the Spratly islands.
Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, also attending the
forum, said the United States had briefed Malaysia on these plans,
but that he feared getting caught up between two superpowers.
"My concern is unintended, accidental, unintentional incidents on
the high seas, especially between two major powers that at the end
of the day will end up affecting smaller nations like Malaysia," he
told reporters.
China has overlapping claims with Vietnam, the Philippines,
Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei in the South China Sea.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Writing by Michael Martina; Editing by
Michael Perry and Ed Davies)
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