China hits back at U.S. over South China Sea dispute

美 “남중국해 중국 점거 불용”…中 반발

China... has hit back at the United States,... telling Washington to respect facts, while arguing it has "irrefutable" sovereignty over disputed islands in the South China Sea.
This... after the White House pledged to defend "international territories" in the strategic waters.
Take a look.

"It's a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, we're going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country."

"China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters. China firmly upholds its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea and insists on solving relevant South China Sea disputes peacefully through talks with countries directly involved. The U.S. is not a state directly involved in the South China Sea issue and China urges the U.S. side to respect fact and speak and act with caution so as not to impair peace and stability in the South China Sea region."

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[ahmadrafieeishak]

no ukraine or syria in south china sea. let put the money on development, economy, environment. not a war.

[thndrngest]

trump thinks like a businessman, a mediocre one, so just relax.

[johnfeng]

China's policy toward South China Sea since Deng Xiaoping is "lay the disputes aside and exploit together".
China has a long historical relationship with South China Sea:
King of Nanyue (predecessor of Vietnam, a part of China till 939AD, Vietnamese: Nhà Triệu) Zhao Tuo (a Han Chinese 240BC-137BC, Vietnamese: Triệu Đà) administrated northern part of South China S.
1972 unearthed Mawangdui Han Tombs extracted some maps with SCS.
"Book of Later Han" wrote between 432AD and 445AD has chapters about S China Sea.
Various later historical documents describe S China Sea.
The most famous event for Chinese to explore South CS is "Zheng He's Voyages".
Zheng He (1371–1433 or 1435), formerly romanized as Cheng Ho, was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family, later adopted the conferred surname Zheng from Emperor Yongle. Zheng commanded expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. His larger ships stretched 120 meters or more in length. These carried hundreds of sailors on four tiers of decks.
South China sea is very important "belt" for old Chinese's trade route.
"China" as porcelain can be found in many places on land or under water along the old "belt" trade route.
If you think China should claim a small part of South China Sea then China can get peace with other countries? Which small part?
If we claim small part of SCS, it is not reasonable. In the ancient time, Chinese ancestor's activity/navigation is not restricted to a small part or to a fixed sea route. Most islands or coral reef are claimed after WW2, or after WW1. But Chinese has relationship with SCS is 1500 years earlier than most of the claims.