The US State Department on Sunday said that China is using its militarised outposts in the South China Sea as coercion platforms to control the waters over which it has no lawful claim.

The US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said that five years ago on September 25, 2015, Chinese President Xi Jimping promised ‘China does not intend to pursue militarization’ of the Spratly Islands, and China’s outposts ‘would not target or impact any country’.

Now, the United States is demanding President Xi Jinping to honour his commitment.

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“The CCP uses these militarised outposts as platforms of coercion to assert control over waters to which Beijing has no lawful maritime claim,” Ortagus said.

Notably, Beijing claims almost all of the 1.3 million square-mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory. It has been building military bases on artificial islands for a long time in the region which, in parts, is claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

China has also hindered commercial activities such as fishing and mineral exploration by neighbouring nations in recent years. The country says that the ownership of the resource-rich maritime territory belongs to China for hundreds of years.

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“We urge the international community to continue to raise its opposition to this unacceptable and dangerous behaviour, and to make clear to the CCP that we will hold it to account. The United States will continue to stand with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in resisting China’s coercive efforts to establish dominion over the South China Sea,” Ortagus decried over Chinese Communist Party not honouring the commitments.

In recent times, tensions have escalated between China and US over trade malpractices. The US is continuously increasing its naval presence in the South China Sea, in an effort to protect navigation freedom.