(CNN) — As China rapidly builds new artificial islands in the South China Sea to expand its territory claim there, Washington is adamantly refusing to recognize those claims.
On Saturday (May 30), U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter called on Beijing to stop amid fresh tensions.
Last week, a U.S. surveillance plane carrying a CNN crew swooped over such artificial islands, triggering eight warnings from the Chinese navy to back off. U.S. officials are concerned about China’s militarization of some of the islands and is trying to create public awareness of it.
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