China Hits Back at US, Says It Doesn’t Fear ‘Trouble’ in South China Sea

• China hits at US ‘provocations’, says doesn’t fear ‘trouble’
  by AFP, via http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news  
  Chinese Admiral Sun Jianguo said while Beijing seeks a peaceful solution in the South China Sea, it does not fear “trouble” over territorial disputes with its neighbours. 
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  SINGAPORE: China on Sunday (Jun 5) denounced US “provocations” in the South China Sea and said it does not fear “trouble” over its territorial disputes with neighbours in the area.
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  “The South China Sea issue has become overheated because of the provocations of certain countries for their own selfish interests,” Admiral Sun Jianguo told a security summit in Singapore.
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  Sun, who stressed China’s desire for a peaceful solution, spoke one day after US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter warned that Chinese construction on a South China Sea islet claimed by the Philippines would prompt unspecified “actions” by the United States and other nations.
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  On a visit to Mongolia Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry also warned Beijing against setting up an air defence identification zone over the disputed waters, saying it would be a “provocative and destabilising act”.
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  Rhetoric has escalated ahead of a ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on a case brought by the Philippines, a longtime US ally and former colony, against China, which has shunned the proceedings and says it will not recognise any ruling.
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  The Chinese admiral, in a clear reference to Washington, said “freedom of navigation” patrols in the South China Sea were a display of “military muscles” and that China was being forced to “accept and honour” the tribunal’s ruling.
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  “China firmly opposes such behaviour. We do not make trouble but we have no fear of trouble,” Sun said in prepared remarks.
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