Beijing slams Washington's claim of 'militarization' of South China Sea

Beijing on Thursday criticized Washington for creating an excuse to increase military deployment in the Asia-Pacific region by playing up China's so-called militarization of the South China Sea.

"It is the United States that drove its advanced warships into the South China Sea from afar, and even brought advanced strategic weapons to the region," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular news conference in Beijing.

The remarks came after US Indo-Pacific Command chief Admiral Philip Davidson was quoted by the Sputnik news agency as saying in congressional testimony on Tuesday that Chinese "militarization" of the South China Sea has prompted the US to begin discussing the possibility of relocating US forces and opening bases in the region.