Speculations surrounding China’s establishment of an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the South China Sea is “groundless,” China said Sunday, while defending its construction work in the region as “justified” and “legitimate.”

Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the general staff department of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), made the remarks during his keynote speech at the 14th Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) in Singapore, one of the most important defense and security summits in the Asia-Pacific.

Sun said the construction in the South China Sea does not target any country or affect freedom of navigation. In response to hype over the alleged South China Sea ADIZ, he said that such an action depends on security threats, but judging by the current situation, the speculation is “groundless.”

… Ei Sun Oh, an expert in international studies from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, told the Global Times that the South China Sea will continue to see mutual restraint between China and the US. But those “restrained confrontations” will not pose threats to the Sino-US relationship.