China has recently compared its reclamation of the island in South China Sea as if they are constructing roads, commercial buildings and houses in an effort to whitewash the controversy at hand, according to a report from Fox News.
However, the Defense Ministry said, on the very same venue, that the country is adapting a more assertive approach to national defense, which has prompted neighboring countries to be on guard.
This comes after U.S. Navy P8-A Poseidon surveillance aircraft flew around the Fiery Cross Reef, where China has been doing extensive reclamation work. A Chinese dispatcher warned off the aircraft, and has sparked a Chinese protest.
This incident provoked Global Times, a Communist Party newspaper, to create a captious editorial which says that China will be forced to engage if the White House does not stop testing Beijing.
On the same day, China announced its plans in safeguarding economic interests by broadening its international reach, while protecting its territorial claims from "provocative" attempts from its neighboring countries and "meddling" from the U.S., the Washington Post reported.
While China asserted that it is still dedicated to ensuring peaceful development and "international security cooperation," it added that the navy will develop its target from "offshore waters defense" to a bigger emphasis on "open seas protection" as the country intends to become a maritime power.
On the other hand, the air force will begin to move its focus from "territorial air defense to both defense and offense."
