China will "crush" any foreign incursion into its sovereign territory including in the South China Sea, a senior Beijing military official said Thursday on the sidelines of a defence forum.
"We hope that the South China Sea will remain a sea of peace," Chinese army Lieutenant General He Lei told a small group of journalists including AFP, adding: "if the United States moves its pawns behind the scenes... we in the Chinese People's Liberation Army will resolutely crush any foreign hostile encroachment".
