Beijing rebukes US involvement in South China Sea islands row

China’s foreign minister told top US diplomat John Kerry on Saturday that Beijing was “unshakeable” in its defence of sovereignty, as tensions between the powers mount over Chinese island-building in strategic but disputed waters. The United States is weighing sending warships and surveillance aircraft within 12 nautical miles – the normal territorial zone around natural land – of artificial islands that Beijing is building in the South China Sea. Such a move could lead to a standoff on the high seas in an area home to vital global shipping lanes and believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits.

The determination of the Chinese side to safeguard our own sovereignty and territorial integrity is as firm as a rock and it is unshakeable.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi

The world’s top two economies have significant commercial ties and Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to pay a state visit to the United States in September. But China’s ambitions for a place on the world’s political stage commensurate with its economic role have seen it cross the United States in multiple fields, and the two have long-running disputes over issues ranging from trade to cyberspying to human rights. At the same time the United States is China’s second-biggest trading partner after the European Union, with two-way commerce worth $555 billion last year, according to Chinese figures.

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