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 The United States last week accused China of raising tensions in
the South China Sea by its apparent deployment of surface-to-air
missiles on a disputed island, a move China has neither confirmed
nor denied.
Asked whether the South China Sea, and the missiles, would come up
when Wang is in the United States to meet Secretary of State John
Kerry, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Washington
should not use the issue of military facilities on the islands as a
"pretext to make a fuss".
"The U.S. is not involved in the South China Sea dispute, and this
is not and should not become a problem between China and the United
States," Hua told a daily news briefing.
China hopes the U.S. abides by its promises not to take sides in the
dispute and stop "hyping up" the issue and tensions, especially over
China's "limited" military positions there, she said.
"China's deploying necessary, limited defensive facilities on its
own territory is not substantively different from the United States
defending Hawaii," Hua added.
 U.S. ships and aircraft carrying out frequent, close-in patrols and
surveillance in recent years is what has increased regional
tensions, she said.
"It's this that is the biggest cause of the militarization of the
South China Sea. We hope that the United States does not confuse
right and wrong on this issue or practice double standards."
AUSTRALIA OPERATIONS URGED
On Monday, a senior U.S. naval officer was reported as saying
Australia and other countries should follow the U.S. lead and
conduct "freedom-of-navigation" naval operations within 12 nautical
miles (18 kilometers) of contested islands in the South China Sea.
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China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5
trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia,
Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.
Beijing has rattled nerves with construction and reclamation
activities on the islands it occupies, though it says these moves
are mostly for civilian purposes.
The state-owned China Southern Power Grid Company will set up a
power grid management station in what China calls Sansha City,
located on Woody Island in the Paracels, which will be able to
access microgrids in 16 other islands, according to China's top
regulator of state-owned assets.
In the long term, the station will be able to remotely manage power
for many islands there, the statement added, without specifying
which islands it was referring to.
Wang is scheduled to be in the U.S. from Tuesday until Thursday.
Hua said the minister is also expected to discuss North Korea, and
she repeated China's opposition to the possible U.S. deployment of
an advanced U.S. missile defense system following North Korea's
recent rocket launch.
(Additional reporting by Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Richard
Borsuk)
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