BEIJING: The US poses the largest security challenge in the South China Sea as its military deployment there is turning it into “the whirlpool of an arms race,” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong said in remarks published on Sunday.
Recent maritime run-ins between China and the Philippines, a US treaty ally, have made the highly strategic South China Sea a potential flashpoint between Washington and Beijing.
“At present, the biggest security challenge in the South China Sea comes from outside the region,” Sun said in comments published by his ministry, after attending a high-level meeting on East Asian cooperation in Laos.
Sun said US-led forces were “promoting military deployment and actions in the South China Sea, inciting and intensifying maritime disputes and contradictions, and damaging the legitimate rights and interests of coastal countries.”
A move by the United States to deploy medium-range missile systems in the area “is dragging the region into the whirlpool of an arms race, placing the entire Asia Pacific region under the shadow of geopolitical conflicts,” Sun said.
China is committed to properly managing disputes with the parties in the South China Sea through dialogue, he added.
In April, the Philippines said during a meeting with US allies that it was determined to assert its sovereign rights in the South China Sea, accusing China of escalating “its harassment” of the Philippines.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce, and has deployed hundreds of coast guard vessels as far as 1,000 km off its mainland to police what it says is its jurisdiction.
The Philippines and China have sparred repeatedly this past year near disputed features that fall within Manila’s exclusive economic zone. China routinely accuses the Philippines of encroachment while Manila and its allies have condemned what they call aggression by Beijing.
The United States has said it stands with Manila.
Beijing says US provoking arms race in moves into South China Sea
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Beijing says US provoking arms race in moves into South China Sea
- American-led forces ‘promoting military deployment and actions in the South China Sea’
- China is committed to properly managing disputes with the parties in the South China Sea through dialogue
Russia’s Putin, in New Year address, voices confidence in victory in Ukraine
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin used his annual televised New Year’s address to rally his troops fighting in Ukraine, saying he believed in them and in victory in a war that he has framed as part of an existential struggle with the West.
US President Donald Trump is trying to broker an end to the nearly four-year-old conflict, Europe’s bloodiest conflagration since World War Two, with both sides’ negotiating stances still far apart.
Dressed in a black coat, Putin — whose forces are advancing slowly but steadily in Ukraine — spoke about Russia’s destiny and the unity of its people, which he said guaranteed the sovereignty and security of the “Fatherland.”
He paid tribute in particular to his forces fighting in Ukraine, calling them heroes.
“Millions of people across Russia — I assure you — are with you on this New Year’s Eve,” said Putin.
“They are thinking of you, empathizing with you, hoping for you. I wish all our soldiers and commanders a happy coming New Year! We believe in you and our Victory!“
His speech, which was first broadcast in Russia’s far east, came as Russia released video footage of what it said was a downed drone, presenting it as evidence that Ukraine had tried this week to attack a presidential residence. Kyiv has dismissed Russia’s allegation as a lie designed to derail peace talks.
In another video released on Wednesday, Russia’s top general told troops to keep carving out buffer zones in Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions and said Moscow’s forces had advanced faster in December than in any other month in 2025.
Reuters could not verify his battlefield assertion.
