The U.S. poses the largest security challenge in the South China Sea, as its military deployment there is turning it into "the whirlpool of an arms race," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong said in remarks published on Sunday.
Recent maritime run-ins between China and the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, have made the highly strategic South China Sea a potential flash point between Washington and Beijing.
"At present, the biggest security challenge in the South China Sea comes from outside the region," Sun said in comments published by his ministry, after attending a high-level meeting on East Asian cooperation in Laos.