KUALA LUMPUR: China's foreign minister Wang Yi says Beijing has stopped land reclamation in the South China Sea but his comments failed to defuse tensions over the disputed waters at high-level diplomatic talks in Malaysia.
Mr Wang bristled when asked about calls for China to temporarily stop the building of artificial islands for what US military chiefs claim are mainly for combat and intelligence gathering purposes.
''China has stopped. China has stopped. You want to see? Take a plane and see who is still building,'' he said.
The US and China clashed at meetings of the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations and their key trading partners, blaming each other for stoking alarm over rival claims in the oil and gas rich waters.
Mr Wang told US Secretary of State John Kerry that ''countries that are not in the region should respect the efforts made by China and Asean nations,'' in an apparent swipe at the US.
Mr Kerry told Mr Wang that China should ''halt problematic actions in order to create space for diplomacy,'' a US official told Reuters.
Mr Kerry also reiterated US concerns about China's ''large scale reclamation, construction and militarisation of features,'' according to the official.
Officials from Asean nations cautioned that there is a gap between pledges by China to defuse tensions and the situation on the ground.
China agreed before the Asean talks to start substantive negotiations on a code of conduct to establish a set of rules aimed at avoiding conflict.
Asean nations have been pushing for the code for more than a decade as China aggressively pursued it territorial claims.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea while there are overlapping claims from Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Brunei.
The dispute has been simmering for decades but was reignited 18 months ago when China began large scale reclamation works in the disputed waters.
US officials say China has reclaimed more than 1200 hectares, dwarfing the 40 hectares that had been reclaimed over 40 years by other nations.
Tensions rose further ahead of the meetings when satellite images showed China had almost finished a 3000-metre long running on one island that could accommodate combat aircraft.
China has already completed a similar runway on another island.
Australia's foreign minister Julie Bishop told Asean nations and China that Australia is concerned about the rising tensions and urged all claimants to end coercive and unilateral actions to push their claims.
Mr Wang bristled when asked about calls for China to temporarily stop the building of artificial islands for what US military chiefs claim are mainly for combat and intelligence gathering purposes.
''China has stopped. China has stopped. You want to see? Take a plane and see who is still building,'' he said.
The US and China clashed at meetings of the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations and their key trading partners, blaming each other for stoking alarm over rival claims in the oil and gas rich waters.
Mr Wang told US Secretary of State John Kerry that ''countries that are not in the region should respect the efforts made by China and Asean nations,'' in an apparent swipe at the US.
Mr Kerry told Mr Wang that China should ''halt problematic actions in order to create space for diplomacy,'' a US official told Reuters.
Mr Kerry also reiterated US concerns about China's ''large scale reclamation, construction and militarisation of features,'' according to the official.
Officials from Asean nations cautioned that there is a gap between pledges by China to defuse tensions and the situation on the ground.
China agreed before the Asean talks to start substantive negotiations on a code of conduct to establish a set of rules aimed at avoiding conflict.
Asean nations have been pushing for the code for more than a decade as China aggressively pursued it territorial claims.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea while there are overlapping claims from Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Brunei.
The dispute has been simmering for decades but was reignited 18 months ago when China began large scale reclamation works in the disputed waters.
US officials say China has reclaimed more than 1200 hectares, dwarfing the 40 hectares that had been reclaimed over 40 years by other nations.
Tensions rose further ahead of the meetings when satellite images showed China had almost finished a 3000-metre long running on one island that could accommodate combat aircraft.
China has already completed a similar runway on another island.
Australia's foreign minister Julie Bishop told Asean nations and China that Australia is concerned about the rising tensions and urged all claimants to end coercive and unilateral actions to push their claims.
