NEW YORK TIMES: With tensions mounting over China’s land reclamation projects in disputed South China Sea waters, Secretary of StateJohn Kerry urged his Chinese counterpart on Wednesday to halt “problematic actions” in the area to provide an opportunity for diplomacy, a senior State Department official said.
Mr. Kerry met with China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian meeting here that has been marked by concern over Beijing’s effort to pile sand around reefs in the South China Sea and construct buildings, harbors, radar towers and airstrips there. More than 2,000 acres of artificial island have been created, according to United States officials.
Mr. Kerry told Mr. Wang that the United States was concerned about the large-scale nature of China’s land reclamation and the “militarization of features there,” said the State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under the agency’s protocol for briefing reporters… (more)
EDITOR: China’s aggressive actions in what is called the South China Sea is a threat to its neighbors and a sign of major problems to come. What happens there may be far more important for the world in coming decades than what happens now with Ukraine and the Mid-East.
