The head of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy told his U.S. counterpart the installations China has constructed in the South China Sea aren’t a sign of an increased militarization in the region, but said China will protect its installations depending on the threat level, according to the Chinese Ministry of National Defense.

The defense of China’s actions was part of a two-hour Tuesday video teleconference – between U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson and People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Adm. Wu Shengli.

“Our necessary defensive step of building on islands and reefs in the Nansha (Spratly) Islands is not militarization, but this has been maliciously hyped up by certain countries and media,” Wu said during the teleconference, as reported by news wire Reuters.

“We will certainly not seek the militarization of the islands and reefs, but we won’t not set up defenses. How many defenses completely depends on the level of threat we face.”
Earlier this month, China landed three commercial airliners on its newly constructed airfield on an artificial island on Fiery Cross Reef in the South China Sea that caused concern in the Philippines and Vietnam. Wu told Richardson that the landings were made to see if the airfield was suitable for civilian aircraft.
The conversation also touched on the success of the multi-national Conduct for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), implemented in April of 2014, successful navy-to-navy encounters in 2015 and plans to meet in person later this year.

Read more; http://news.usni.org/2016/01/20/head-of-chinese-navy-defends-south-china-sea-moves-in-teleconference-with-cno-richardson