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Interview: U.S. should stop intervention in South China Sea issue: Sri Lankan official

Xinhua, June 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

The United States should stop intervention in the South China Sea issue to safeguard peace, stability and security in the region, Karunasena Hettiarachchi, Sri Lanka's secretary to the Ministry of Defence, said.

In an interview with Xinhua on Tuesday, Hettiarachchi said the United States should stop polarizing some ally countries to isolate China and any attempt to draw or divide between countries will undermine the peace, stability and security in the Asia Pacific region.

"The countries concerned should come to the negotiation table to discuss and listen to each other on how to solve the South China Sea disputes."

"As we all know that China is a country that loves peace so much," he noted.

The secretary said during his trip to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore weeks ago, he met defense secretaries of some countries and reached agreement with them on a wide range of issues such as cooperation opportunities and goodwill to maintain regional security.

Hettiarachchi said that he held the same view that the South China Sea issue has been hyped up by some countries outside the region.

The Philippines unilaterally initiated an arbitration from an international tribunal over the South China Sea disputes in 2013.

The Chinese government has reiterated its non-acceptance and non-participation stance in the case.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in its statement issued on June 8 that China has all along stood for peacefully settling territorial and maritime delimitation disputes through negotiations with states directly concerned on the basis of respecting historical facts and in accordance with the International law.

On issues concerning territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation, China never accepts any recourse to third party settlement, or any means of dispute settlement that is imposed on it, the statement said. Endit