China will never "recklessly" resort to the use of force in the South China Sea, a senior Chinese general said on Saturday, amid tensions over Beijing's building of islands in the disputed waters.
China's relations with several Southeast Asian countries, especially the Philippines and Vietnam who have competing claims in the South China Sea, have been strained over Beijing's increasingly assertive tone on territorial claims in an area through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes annually.
Beijing's move last year to step up the creation of artificial islands, which it says are mostly for civilian purposes, has drawn strong criticism from Washington.
Fan Changlong, one of the vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission which controls the Chinese armed forces and is headed by President Xi Jinping, told a high-level security forum that China had sought to avoid conflict.
"We will never recklessly resort to the use of force, even on issues of sovereignty, and have done our utmost to avoid unexpected conflicts," Fan told the forum, attended by Southeast Asian defense ministers.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/17/us-china-southchinasea-idUSKCN0SB00Z20151017I'm not really as up on China as one should be, but I believe the general here. China rarely resorts to force recklessly. They do so after careful consideration of all alternatives.
