The United States on Saturday vowed to keep sending military aircraft and ships to disputed parts of the South China Sea and called for an immediate halt to reclamation works by Beijing in the tense region. US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told a high-level security conference in Singapore that Beijing's intensifying reclamation activity was "out of step" with international norms. China insists it has sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, a major global shipping route believed to be home to oil and gas reserves.

US hits out at China on sea reclamation. (2015, May 31). Panay News, p. 9.