China has sent a warning to the United States to stop its military activity in the South China Sea. The Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi told United States Secretary of State John Kerry that the United States must respect the core interests of China and stop demonstrating the country’s military power. The conversation between Wang and Kerry took place on Sunday.
Wang said in the phone conversation with the Secretary of State, “The world is facing multifaceted challenges and needs multi-party cooperation to handle that. While the US is seeking Chinese cooperation, it also should respect China’s core interests and major concerns.”
The demands from Wang follow a report that United States B-52 bomber accidentally flew within two nautical miles of the Cuarteron Reef in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. This area has been heavily disputed by a number of countries, most notably China. During the summer of 2014, China dumped massive amounts of dredged sand onto the reef in order to convert it into an artificial island.
In October, the United States sent a warship within 12 nautical miles of an island that the Chinese created on a once-submerged reef. However, other countries, such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have been challenging China’s claim to the waters
The foreign ministry of China sent a statement to the United States that said, “We demand that the US reflect upon and correct its mistake, take effective measures to prevent similar dangerous and provocative actions from happening and stop doing anything that hurts China’s sovereignty and security interests.”
The B-52 aircraft flew off course because of bad weather, forcing it into the territory claimed by China. The Defense Ministry of China has said that the incident was a case of serious military provocation. After the incident, troops on the island went into high alert.
Foreign Minister Wang also demanded that America stop selling weapons to Taiwan. Last week, the United States said that it would sell $1.83 billion worth of arms to Taiwan. This is the first such sale to Taiwan in more than four years. To this day, China views the island of Taiwan as a province.
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