———CHINA SLAMS UK PLAN TO SEND CARRIERS TO SOUTH CHINA SEAChina's foreign ministry criticized plans by Britain to send its new aircraft carriers on freedom of navigation missions in the South China Sea to challenge Beijing's expansive territorial claims in the strategic waterway. Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters Friday in response to a question on statements by British officials that "some countries" from outside the region "insist on stirring up trouble while the situation is trending toward calm in the South China Sea." British Defense Secretary Sir Michael Fallon later said exact plans for the deployments had not yet been finalized. The president's policies, including the building of islands and administrative changes elevating the status of China's claims in the disputed Paracel island group, have "altered the basic direction of the South China Sea strategic situation." The article also cited Xi's involvement in policy regarding uninhabited Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea that China claims.

Source: ABC News July 31, 2017 05:37 UTC