Beijing warns U.S. on sovereignty amid S. China Sea dispute

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States should do nothing to harm China's sovereignty and security in the South China Sea, China's foreign minister told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, ahead of a key court ruling on China's claims in the disputed waterway, Reuters reports.

Speaking by telephone on Wednesday, July 6, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Kerry the United States should stick to its promises not to take sides in the dispute, China's foreign ministry said.

China hopes the United States "speaks and acts cautiously, and take no actions that harm China's sovereignty and security interests", the statement paraphrased Wang as saying.

Tensions and rhetoric have been rising ahead of a July 12 ruling by an arbitration court hearing the dispute between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea in the Dutch city of The Hague, Reuters says.

China is conducting military exercises around the Paracel Islands in the north of the region this week, while U.S. Navy officials said on Thursday that U.S. destroyers had been patrolling around Chinese-held reefs and islands in the contested Spratly Islands to the south.

While not close enough to be within 12 nautical miles - a so-called freedom of navigation operation that would require high level approval - the destroyers operated within 14 to 20 nautical miles of the Chinese-occupied features, the Navy Times reported.

The USS Ronald Reagan and its escort ships have also been patrolling the South China Sea since last week, Reuters says.

"All of these patrols are conducted in accordance with international law and all are consistent with routine Pacific Fleet presence throughout the Western Pacific," Pacific Fleet spokesman Lieutenant Clint Ramsden told Reuters.