US President Donald Trump holds up an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership after signing it in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday. Photo: AFP

China on Tuesday urged the US to "act and speak cautiously" on the South China Sea issue, after officials of the rookie Donald Trump administration blasted China's activities in the region and "one-way" trade with the US.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Monday that the US would "make sure that we protect our interests" in the South China Sea, a resource-rich route through which about $4.5 trillion of trade passes every year.

Spicer's comments came after Rex Tillerson, Trump's nominee for Secretary of State, likened China's island-building activities in the South China Sea to "Russia's taking of Crimea" and bluntly said "China should not be allowed access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea" on January 11.

On Tuesday Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying reiterated China's irrefutable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea.

Experts say Tillerson's remarks were not only arrogant, but dangerous and irresponsible. "If the new US administration follows this route and adopts this attitude, it will lead to a war between China and the US, and that would mean the end of US history or even all of humanity," Jin Canrong, associate dean of the Department of International Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.

"Although the US is planning to send three aircraft carriers to the West Pacific region, if they launch military intervention in the South China Sea, we have the ability to destroy them all, even they send 10," Jin said.

"The islands with airports that we have built in the area are unsinkable aircraft carriers … and we have the DF-21D and DF-26 missiles that are capable of destroying large surface vessels," said Major General Luo Yuan, vice president with the China Strategic Culture Promotion Association.

Tillerson was the chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil, and the South China Sea has rich natural gas resources. "If tycoons like him can participate in US diplomatic decision-making, it is not a surprise that he will risk the US' security and Sino-US relations in exchange for his personal interest," said Xu Liping, a research fellow at the National Institute of International Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

China has been quickly increasing its military capability, especially the navy, in recent years. The People's Liberation Army Navy on Sunday commissioned a new 052D guided missile destroyer, bringing the number of destroyers of this class to five.

Franz-Stefan Gady, an associate editor with Tokyo-based magazine The Diplomat, wrote on its website that the 052D is a new "carrier killer" warship built for potential threats from US aircraft-carriers.

Compared with Tillerson, Spicer's comments on Monday were a bit more reasonable, Chu Yin, an associate professor at the University of International Relations, said, explaining "In the past, the US declared that its intervention in regional affairs was to protect smaller countries and its allies, but now Vietnam and the Philippines have agreed to suspend their dispute with China and restart economic cooperation. They refuse to be used by the US, so the US has to find some new excuses to continue its intervention in the region."

Two-way trade

On Sino-US trade, Spicer complained there are many Chinese businesses and individuals who have ease of access in the US to sell their goods or services, unlike foreign companies in China. "I think that whether or not you're talking about the financial services or the banking ... the other service industries, or our manufacturing goods and services, or some of the IP problems that we have with China, that it really is not a two-way street," he said, worsening speculation of upgraded trade conflicts with China.

China maintains that trade with the US is essentially mutually beneficial. "No one will win a trade war or antagonism, but both sides will get hurt and imperil others," said foreign ministry spokesperson Hua.

As Trump on Monday signed an executive order to officially withdraw the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, the international community has turned its attention to how big a role China will play in leading world trade.

Free-trade skeptic Trump called the withdrawal "a great thing for the American workers." Some economic entities, such as Australia and Malaysia, have expressed hope that China can fill the gap of the US withdrawing, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

"We believe 'responsibility' is more precise than 'leadership' [to describe China's position]," Hua commented. "China has always advocated the construction of open, transparent and mutually benefitting regional free trade mechanisms."