Beijing hit back on Wednesday at US President Donald Trump’s veiled criticism of its territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea, countering that the United States was a greater threat to sovereignty.
In his speech to the UN General Assembly yesterday, Trump decried ‘threats to sovereignty’ in Ukraine and the resource- rich South China Sea, without explicitly mentioning Russia or China.
China asserts sovereignty over almost all of the strategically vital waters in the face of rival claims from its Southeast Asian neighbours, and has rapidly turned reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes.