China's vice foreign minister Liu Zhenmin declares most of South China Sea "China's territory"

Reported here:

Mr Liu insisted that most of the South China Sea, including the Spratly and Paracel island chains, were China’s "inherent territory". He added: "We hope that other countries will not take this opportunity to threaten China and work with China to protect the peace and stability of the South China Sea, and not let it become the origin of a war.”