The US-ASEAN maritime exercise that started on Monday is the first joint naval drill between the United States and the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
President Xi Jinping said on Thursday that China and the Philippines should commit themselves to push forward the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea so it can be finished as early as possible.
The Chinese military resolutely opposes recent sailing by a US naval warship into territorial waters around China's Nansha Islands, and urges the US side to immediately stop such provocative actions, a spokesman for the People's Liberation Army Southern Theater Command said on Thursday.
Over the past few years, China and the Philippines have strengthened their relations thanks to frequent high-level exchanges between the two heads of state and the remarkable restraint they have exercised over the South China Sea dispute.
China urges the United States to stop malicious hyping and play a positive and constructive role in international and regional affairs, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.
China has sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters, the Foreign Ministry reiterated on Friday, while calling for Vietnam to respect the rights and work with China for peace at sea.
A major power outside the region is trying to turn the South China Sea into an arena for major-power wrestling, which is the source of tensions in the region, said head of Chinese mission to the European Union (EU) Thursday.
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