A Chinese navy serviceman inspects the waters in this undated file photo. [Photo/Xinhuanet.com]

KUALA LUMPUR - Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin on Sunday criticized the intrusion of US warship which sailed within 12 nautical miles of a Chinese reef in the South China Sea as a "political provocation" in the name of "freedom of navigation."

The true purpose of the US intrusion is to test how China will react to this kind of provocations, Liu said at a press briefing on the sidelines of the 27th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits.

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China demands US stop 'provocations' in South China Sea

BEIJING -- China's People's Liberation Army Navy commander Wu Shengli on Thursday called on the United States to stop its "provocations" in the South China Sea.

The Chinese navy, "bearing the bigger picture of bilateral ties in mind," had exercised "maximum restraint" in the face of US provocations, Admiral Wu of the People's Liberation Army's Navy told Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, in a meeting in Beijing.

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President Xi Jinping's visit to the Philippines for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting from Nov 17 to 19 has quelled speculations that the maritime disputes with the host nation could make him decide otherwise.