"There should be no mistake about this: The United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as we do all around the world," Mr Carter said. US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter delivers his speech during the change-of-command ceremony for the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. Credit:US Department of Defence Mr Carter spoke as sunlight glinted off the battleship USS Missouri berthed nearby. The vessel, anchored in Tokyo Bay, was the site of the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II almost 70 years ago. His comments and the setting unleash a confrontational tone for the Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional security conference to be held this weekend in Singapore, where Mr Carter and Admiral Sun Jianguo, a deputy chief of staff of China's People Liberation Army, will be among those in attendance. China's Foreign Ministry blasted the US military's move as "very irresponsible and also dangerous". On Tuesday, Beijing released a military strategy white paper that warned about "meddling" by other nations in the South China Sea. Earlier a Chinese state-owned newspaper said that "war was inevitable" between China and the United States unless Washington stopped demanding Beijing halt the building works in the disputed waterway.

Last week, China issued multiple warnings attempting to order a US Navy Poseidon P-8A surveillance aircraft to leave an area near the disputed Spratly Islands. A satellite image shows dredgers working at the northernmost reclamation site of Mischief Reef, part of the Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea in March 2015. Credit:CSIS While in Hawaii, Mr Carter met with his Philippines counterpart, Voltaire Gazmin, and reaffirmed their shared commitment to defend against any external attacks, according to a Pentagon statement. Heading for a 10-day tour of the Asia-Pacific, Mr Carter called on countries in the region to settle territorial claims with diplomacy rather than force. An anti-surface gunnery is fired from a Chinese missile frigate during military exercises by Singapore and Chinese navies in the South China Sea. Credit:Xinhua

"We want a peaceful resolution of all disputes, and an immediate and lasting halt to land reclamation by any claimant," he said in a speech to US forces at Pearl Harbour. "We also oppose any further militarisation of disputed features." Mr Carter's remarks were a rebuff to China's territorial claims, which have alarmed smaller neighbors such as Vietnam and the Philippines. In recent weeks, China has challenged US surveillance flights over the South China Sea, where it has been expanding small islands and partially submerged rock formations into larger parcels of land. 'Foolish' demands The tough tone is probably designed for "domestic political reasons", said Chas Freeman, a longtime diplomat who served as the principal US interpreter during president Richard Nixon's historic visit to China in 1972. "The idea is to show, for domestic opinion, the administration is tough," he said in an interview. "If the purpose is to persuade the Chinese to reverse course, then this is counterproductive. It will not have that effect. It will sound like empty bluster."

"It's always foolish to make demands that you know are not going to be met," Mr Freeman said. "It makes you look impotent, not strong." By Pentagon estimates, China has added about 800 hectares of territory through its reclamation work. New airstrips and lighthouses dot some of the islands, raising concerns among US, Australian and other officials about China's intentions. Mr Carter accused China of being "out of step" with global and regional standards with its actions in the South China Sea. Following the Shangri-La meeting, Mr Carter will visit naval facilities in Vietnam and India in another signal to China of the US commitment to the region. Chinese officials have defended their island-building, citing a late 1940s map called the "nine-dash line" that predates Communist rule and extends about 1800 kilometres south of China's Hainan Island.

Chinese officials also argue that other countries including Vietnam and the Philippines have expanded land formations in the region. China also is wary of the Obama administration's plan to rebalance US forces to Asia, including basing 60 per cent of the Navy in the region. Mr Carter spoke at a change-of-command ceremony at Pearl Harbour where Admiral Harry Harris took the helm of US Pacific Command. Admiral Harris has been critical of China, accusing the government of President Xi Jinping in April of erecting a "Great Wall of Sand" in the South China Sea. Half the world's merchant ships pass through the South China Sea every year, bearing cargoes valued at an estimated $US5 trillion. China claims more than 80 per cent of the resource-rich waters. In December 2013, the guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens and a Chinese military vessel had a confrontation in the sea that required manoeuvring to avoid a collision. Last August, a Chinese fighter buzzed within 10 metres of a US surveillance plane in international waters near Hainan Island. Only last week, the Chinese navy warned a US surveillance plane eight times to leave airspace above the Spratly Islands.

Even so, leaders of the Association of South-east Asian Nations have refrained from openly criticising China in statements urging restraint in the waters, and progress on a code of conduct has been slow. Bloomberg Follow FairfaxForeign on Twitter Follow FairfaxForeign on Facebook