The United States has called for China to end it's fast-paced reclamation work in the South China Sea.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter made the call during a high-security press conference held in Singapore on Saturday morning, declaring that China's reclamation work in the South China Sea is "out of step with international rules" and that the U.S. strongly opposes "any further militarization" of the disputed islands, according to Voice of America.
Carter also said that China and the other neighboring states should agree on a long-delayed code of conduct for the waters before the end of the year, Bloomberg reported.
"There is no military solution to the South China Sea disputes. Right now, at this critical juncture, is the time for renewed diplomacy, focused on finding a lasting solution that protects the rights and interests of all," he said.
The U.S. has expressed deep concern towards China's relentlessness in its reclamation work over the Spratly Islands, as the country has insisted it has every right to control all of the lands, even those found nearby the coastal areas of it's neighboring regions.
Carter' message to China follows only three days after the Pentagon chief affirmed the defense secretary of the Philippines, a country that China has been at odds with in particular, of its ironclad promise to protect them from the ongoing dispute.
