A USA warship sails close to a disputed South China Sea island, challenging Beijing's claims in the area.
Citing data showing China's defence outlays growing at an average of 8.5 per cent a year in inflation-adjusted terms from 2007 to 2016, the report said, "Chinese leaders seem committed to increases in defence spending for the foreseeable future, even as China's economic growth slows".
The "Nansha" (Spratly) Islands inhabit a part of the South China Sea claimed by the Philippines and Vietnam.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, speaking at the same conference, said that North Korea presented a "clear and present danger".The UN security council unanimously passed a resolution with new sanctions against North Korea Friday after the regime launched its ninth ballistic missile test of the year.
China has always respected and maintained the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea in accordance with global law.
"We hope relevant parties can fully respect and support regional countries' efforts to safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea and play a constructive role in this regard, rather than the opposite", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Monday.
More than a concept provider, China has taken active actions to maintain, build and contribute to worldwide and regional peace.
China has expressed its strong dissatisfaction with what it labeled "irresponsible remarks" on the South China Sea by U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis during a security forum.
"We are trying to exhaust all possible alternatives to avert this race for a nuclear weapon... in violation of the United Nations' restrictions on North Korea's activities", he said.
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Hua added that China and ASEAN countries have reached a framework of a code of conduct in the South China Sea.
"We desire productive relationships", he said after annual discussions with his Australian counterpart, Julie Bishop, in Sydney.
The U.S. and Australia, which counts China as its biggest trading partner, have both stepped up their call for Beijing to match its rising power with responsible behavior.
He said China has strived to develop and improve friendly and cooperative relations with other countries in the Asia-Pacific, with China-U.S. relations forging ahead positively and steadily, China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination progressing at a high level and China-India strategic cooperative partnership deepening.
"It is crucial now more than ever, that we put a united front, build a coalition and a movement of moderates with likeminded nations, to be the voice of reason to counter terrorism and extremism - a principle which has guided Malaysia's recent overtures in foreign policy", he said.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, despite partial counter-claims from Taiwan and several Southeast Asian nations including the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.
The United States would continue "to fly, sail and operate wherever worldwide law allows, and demonstrate resolve through operational presence in the South China Sea and beyond", Mattis said.
The Pentagon said China was the world's fourth largest arms supplier from 2011 to 2015 with more than $20 billion in sales, $9 billion of which was to Asia-Pacific nations, primarily Pakistan and also Bangladesh and Myanmar.
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