ISTANBUL

China has criticized the US at the UN Security Council over remarks on the South China Sea, calling Washington “unqualified” to act as a judge of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), state-run media reported on Tuesday.

China’s permanent representative to the UN, Fu Cong, delivered a sharp rebuttal at a Security Council meeting on Monday, rejecting what he described as misleading and slanderous comments by the US envoy regarding the South China Sea, according to the Global Times.

"US is not a state party to the UNCLOS, and it is all the more unqualified to act as a judge of the convention and dictate to other countries," Fu said.

His remarks came after US Deputy Representative Tammy Bruce expressed concern over what she described as China’s “expansive and unlawful maritime claims” in the South China Sea, saying they lacked a basis under the Law of the Sea Convention.

Fu reaffirmed that China holds what he called indisputable sovereignty over the islands and their adjacent waters in the South China Sea, citing historical and legal grounds.

He also accused the US of ignoring facts, sowing discord, and escalating tensions by deploying offensive weapons and frequently sending warships and aircraft into the region under the banner of “freedom of navigation.”

“Who on earth is engaging in coercion and bullying in the South China Sea, who is disrupting regional stability and threatening the freedom and security of navigation, and who is undermining the international rule of law? The truth is self-evident,” Fu said.