Keep off! We own South China Sea: Beijing warns Trump

China has extended its territorial claims of the South China Sea to 100 per cent of the disputed waterway while warning the US President Donald Trump to stop inciting a disastrous confrontation.

The South China Sea is regarded as a major flashpoint between China and the USA, with China already militarising numerous islands there.

The US undertakes regular freedom-of-movement exercises in the region and has deployed aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Regan there in recent weeks.

Historically, China has maintained a sovereignty claim on about 80-90 per cent of the waters, but it appears China now wants all of it.

Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang in a press conference on Saturday accused the US of ‘sowing discord’ and acting as a ‘disruptor of regional peace’ after the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made some remarks in a statement on 13 July labelling the CCP the ‘central threat of our times’ and asserting that China’s claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful.

Ren Guoqiang said: ‘China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters, which has full historical and legal basis’.

Ren further implied that China is prepared to back its warning with action adding that ‘China urges the US to stop making false remarks, stop taking provocative military actions, and stop sowing discord among countries in the region.

‘The attempts made by the US concerning the South China Sea can only make China more firmly defend its own sovereignty and security, and to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.’

Ren also criticised the US for what he called the ‘hegemonic mentality’ and double standards of the US which claims to be an ‘arbitrator’ of the South China Sea issue, but is in fact actually a disruptor of regional peace, cooperation, and international relations’.

The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had in his statement on 13 July accused China of treating the South China Sea as its maritime empire and that America supports its Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources as applicable under international law.