BEIJING: Beijing said on Wednesday US President Barack Obama should not get involved in disputes in the South China Sea, after he demanded an end to artificial island building in the hotly contested region.

“The United States should stop playing up the South China Sea issue, stop heightening tensions in the South China Sea and stop complicating disputes in the South China Sea,” Hong Lei, a foreign ministry spokesman, said at a regular press briefing in Beijing.

“No country has the right to point fingers at” China’s construction activities, he added.

The rebuke came after Obama met with Philippine President Benigno Aquino in Manila during the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) gathering.

Beijing has turned a series of reefs and outcrops in disputed waters into artificial islands capable of hosting facilities with military purposes, alarming other claimants.

“APEC members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have rival claims to parts of the sea, which is believed to sit atop vast oil and gas resources.

Beijing claims nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters approaching the coasts of its Asian neighbours.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2015