China says United States should `brush up on` South China Sea history

by Dramelin 6:00 PM 0 comments

However, last week U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis suggested that diplomacy should be the priority in the South China Sea. China claims most of the South China Sea, while Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei claim parts of the waters that command strategic sea lanes and have rich fishing grounds along with oil and gas deposits. "Afterwards, certain countries around China used illegal methods to occupy some of the Nansha islands and reefs, and it`s this that created the so-called South China Sea dispute. BEIJING The United States needs to brush up on its history about the South China Sea, as World War Two-related agreements mandated that all Chinese territories taken by Japan had to be returned to China, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in Australia. Countries outside the region should support the efforts of China and others in the region to maintain the peace and stability of the South China Sea, and not do the opposite, he added.