Contrary to an aggressive image painted by Vietnam and the United States lately, China has been quite restrained about what happened in the Xisha Islands last week.
Drilling activities of China Oilfield Services Limited are located only 17 nautical miles from China's Zhongjian Island, official said.
The Philippines should stop creating trouble in the South China Sea and testing Beijing's patience, because even with US help it cannot win an all-out confrontation with China.
ASEAN foreign ministers on Saturday expressed "serious concerns" over the ongoing development in the South China Sea, which have increased tensions in the area, said a statement issued here.
Beijing has demanded that Hanoi cease its harassing actions against a Chinese oil rig in waters off an island in the South China Sea and called for dialogue to end the conflict.
Manila illegally seized 11 Chinese fishermen and a boat from waters off China's Half Moon Shoal in the Nansha Islands, a move likely to escalate tension in the South China Sea.
The navy has been patrolling the Xisha and Nansha islands in the South China Sea on an ongoing training mission over the last week.
Beijing said on Monday it was "startled" by Manila's recent statement that it would use a warship grounded in Chinese territory as "a permanent Philippine government installation".
Beijing warned Washington on April 8 to "stay vigilant" about Japan and not to be "permissive or supportive" of Tokyo's provocations as Chinese and US defense chiefs vowed wider cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.
The recently approved guidelines for unplanned encounters at sea, as a set of multilateral technical procedures, should not be deliberately used to prevent China from safeguarding its maritime rights.
The Xisha Islands in the South China Sea are to become China's latest tourist hotspot.
The Xisha Islands in the South China Sea are to become China's latest tourist hotspot, the provincial governor said Sunday.