Defense ministry slams 'ulterior motives' of US-based think tank

A formation of the Nanhai Fleet of China's Navy finished a three-day patrol of the Nansha islands in the South China Sea, Dec 19, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

The Ministry of National Defense said "the relevant party is deliberately making topics, flaring the tension and hyping with ulterior motives" after a US-based think tank released satellite images of Chinese reefs in the South China Sea.

The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies on Monday released pictures it claimed showed the development of high-frequency radar towers on reefs such as Huayang Reef in China's Nansha Islands, which "could significantly change the operational landscape in the South China Sea".

The ministry responded on Tuesday evening by saying what the US side has done is "the origin of the militarization of the South China Sea".

The US is boosting its military deployment there, flexing its muscles, making provocations by incursions of China's territorial waters and airspace and aligning with allies to work on joint patrols or drills there, the ministry said.

"The relevant party has turned a blind eye to this while it has multiple times blamed China's justifiable and lawful constructions on its islands and reefs," the ministry added.

About the constructions there, the ministry said China's constructions on the relevant islands and reefs in the South China Sea are mainly for civil purposes and have included navigation and weather equipment.

Such efforts were made in order to "better provide public service products to the international community", it said.

Also, China is exercising the right of self-preservation and self-defense entitled by international law when it deploys necessary defense facilities to guard the homeland, it added.