Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed deep concern about China’s recent acts in the East Sea, describing them as aggressive.

He was speaking at an event to welcome Singaporean Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam in Washington D.C. on May 12.

The official said, “There are many issues of concern where we think alike and we work in partnership. One of the most recent, obviously, is the Chinese challenge to the Paracel Islands. And we are particularly concerned – all nations that are engaged in navigation and traffic within the South China Sea, the East China Sea, are deeply concerned about this aggressive act.”

“We want to see a code of conduct created; we want to see this resolved peacefully through the Law of the Sea, through arbitration, through any other means, but not direct confrontation and aggressive action,” he stressed.-VNA