China terms US claim 'ridiculous'

US assertions that China is militarising the South China Sea are "ridiculous", China said yesterday, after US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Washington would confront China's actions in the disputed waterways.

Mattis said on Tuesday the United States would push back against what it sees as China's militarisation of islands in the South China Sea despite China's condemnation of a voyage through the region on the weekend by two US Navy ships.

"The United States military presence in the South China Sea is greater than that of China and other countries that surround the seas combined," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing.

Hua also questioned whether US Navy "freedom of navigation" operations were really about preserving the right for ships to sail through the region or an attempt to maintain hegemony.

"This sounds like a case of a thief crying 'stop thief' to cover their misdeeds," she said.

Speaking at a separate briefing, defence ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang said they had noted that the United States had recently been "turning a blind eye to the facts and hyping up" the militarisation of the South China Sea.

No country has the right to "make irresponsible remarks" about China's building of necessary defence facilities on its own territory, Ren said.