China has defended its effort to dredge new islands in the South China Sea and said features such as deep water harbours and a 3km airstrip that can accommodate fighter jets were for peaceful purposes.
A day after criticism by US defence secretary Ashton Carter, China’s Admiral Sun Jianguo told a gathering of military experts in Singapore, known as the annual Shangri-La dialogue, that the islands were aimed at providing “international public services” such as search and rescue, and meteorological forecasting. China had “no ulterior motives,” he said.
The US and China are locked in a war of words over China’s land reclamation efforts, which the US says amounts to 2,000 new acres in the past year and
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