KUALA LUMPUR: China has stopped construction in South China Sea, said China Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi.
"Nobody is building there. You can check," he told reporters today after a press conference on the sidelines of the 48th Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) and related meetings.
He also said the issue on South China Sea was discussed with Malaysia and Singapore, and 90 per cent of the discussion had touched on the importance of working together to increase the working relationship and trust.
Emphasising the importance of having mutual cooperation, Wang said China would continue efforts to discuss and implement the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, as well as accelerating talks on the code of conduct.
Wang said even though there was a tension over the South China Sea issue, leaders felt that it did not represent the relationship that Asean had with China.
After meeting United States Secretary of State John Kerry earlier, Wang told reporters that China and the US had reached an understanding on the South China Sea.
“The US and China discussed current issues on the South China Sea peacefully, and will peacefully resolve the issues. The US emphasised that it welcomed a strong, peaceful and growing China, and the US is willing to have a good and positive interaction with China and the Asia-Pacific,” Wang said.
"We have reached a ... mutual understanding."
During the US-Asean Ministerial Meeting, which is related to the 48th AMM at the Putra World Trade Centre here, later, Kerry said he hoped to move forward on discussions with China over the South China Sea dispute.
“The United States shares the frequently expressed desire of Asean members to preserve the peace and stability of the South China Sea,” Kerry said in his opening remarks.
“We just had a good meeting with, I might say, the foreign minister of China, and I hope very much that these meetings, over the course of today and tomorrow, we will find a way to move forward effectively together, all of us.”
Four Asean states – Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei – have overlapping claims in the South China Sea with each other and with China, which claims the sea almost in its entirety. This dispute has lead to the countries involved to reclaim shallow shoals and reefs in the sea in a bid to stake their claims.
China, in particular, has pursued an accelerated reclamation programme, building an airstrip on Fiery Cross Reef – which is in the middle of the South China Sea – that some security officials fear could be used to operate military jets.
The US, though not a direct party in the dispute, has been a vocal critic of China’s activities in the sea.
It was reported that Washington had called for three “halts”: halt in reclamation, halt in construction, and halt in aggressive actions that could further heighten tension.