China Says South China Sea Construction Is Protecting Distant Reefs
- Facilities don't mean South China Sea reefs are militarized
- China calls on other countries to demilitarize islands
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China refuted claims it is militarizing the disputed South China Sea, saying it needs to build facilities on artificial islands and reefs to protect them.
“As the islands and reefs are far from China’s mainland it is necessary to maintain and build necessary military facilities,” Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said at a briefing in Kuala Lumpur after an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. “This is necessitated by China’s national defense purpose and to protect those islands and reefs.”