The South China Sea is one of the world's freest and safest shipping lanes, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday, arguing that Beijing's control over the disputed waters was justified because it was the first to "discover" them.

For many years, United States military airplanes and ships have conducted close-in surveillance operations on China. Recently, with a more ostentatious move, a U.S. Navy vessel sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Zhongjian Island in China’s Xisha Archipelago in violation of Chinese sovereignty. The U.S. claimed that they will continue the practice in the future.

The U.S. Navy has dispatched an aircraft carrier and several ships accompanying it into the South China Sea in the last few days, a deployment of thousands of U.S. sailors to a region a top U.S. admiral said last week is increasingly militarized by China.

Hawks today see the U.S. as withdrawn, docile, and weak by choice. They see China as aggressively violating norms and threatening American leadership. Yet any action would wrongfully assume the differing Chinese expectations of honor, history, and geography.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Tuesday warned China against "aggressive" actions in the South China Sea region, including the placement of surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island.

Singapore and China are working on some exploratory ideas to minimize the risk of unplanned encounters at sea, amid increased fears of potential clashes between Chinese and foreign militaries in the contentious South China Sea.

China on Thursday confirmed it would send warships to join a major U.S.-hosted naval drill this summer, even as tension between the world's two largest economies mounts over the South China Sea.

The U.S. and China showed no sign of quelling tension in the disputed South China Sea as their top diplomats met in Washington on Tuesday. A leading U.S. military officer told Congress that China was seeking to control East Asia.

China's South China Sea military deployments are no different from U.S. deployments on Hawaii, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday, striking a combative tone ahead of a visit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi to the United States this week.

The commander of the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said Monday that he is wary of the situation in the South China Sea being painted as a battle between the United States and China, but added the presence of a Chinese missile system on a disputed island will not stop the U.S. military from flying over the region.