Chinese media on Thursday slammed the United States for "ceaseless provocations" in the South China Sea and said China's military should be "ready to launch countermeasures." In a rebuff to China on Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the US military would sail and fly wherever international law allowed, including the disputed South China Sea. Carter spoke after a two-day meeting between US and Australian foreign and defense ministers at which the longtime allies agreed to expand defense cooperation and expressed "strong concerns" over Beijing's building artificial islands at reefs within its smaller neighbors' territory in the South China Sea.

China warns US on sea patrols in disputed sea. (2015, October 16). Philippine Daily Inquirer, pp. A1, A19.