Republican Senator John McCain says the United States is not seeking to engage in a military conflict with China after the Pentagon confirmed Beijing’s placement of weapons on its man-made islands in the South China Sea.

"We are not going to have a conflict with China but we can take certain measures which will be a disincentive to China to continue these kinds of activities," McCain told reporters on Friday.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said two artillery vehicles were identified by the US several weeks ago.

Warren made the comments after unnamed US officials told The Wall Street Journal that the surveillance imagery detected two Chinese motorized artillery pieces on one of the islands.

The spokesman also said the militarization of these islands is “something we are opposed to.”

McCain, who is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called China’s move “a disturbing development and escalatory development.”

The move “heightens our need to make the Chinese understand that their actions are in violation of international law and their actions are going to be condemned by everyone in the world,” McCain said.

This photo shows the Spratly group of islands in the South China Sea. (AFP Photo)

Tensions have been rising between the two superpowers over China’s activities in the South China Sea and US surveillance flights over the islands.

The Obama administration accuses China of undergoing a massive “land reclamation” program in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea, and says China’s territorial claims of the man-made islands could further militarize the region.

China says its determination to defend its sovereignty and safeguard its national interests is “rock-hard and unquestionable.”

In an interview with Press TV, Michael Billington, Asia editor for the Executive Intelligence Review, said the US is preparing for a possible war against China and Russia aimed at preventing the collapse of the Western banking system.

“The point that has to be made is that the Chinese, like the Russians, are very, very clear that the United States and their NATO allies are in a war mobilization, preparing for war on Russia, preparing for war on China,” Billington stated.

“There’s a general recognition growing that the driving force for this war is the utter collapse of the entire Western banking system,” he added.

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