Want to see freedom of navigation so will continue operations in South China Sea: US

Tensions between US and China over South China would continue to brew after defence secretary Jim Mattis said the United States will continue its  "freedom of navigation" drills in the contentious area.

"You'll notice there's only one country that seems to take active steps to rebuff (such operations) or state their resentment of them, but it's international waters and a lot of nations want to see freedom of navigation, so we will continue that," Mattis said.

US warships have been conducting drills in the South China Sea, an act which has greatly angered China. On Sunday, two US warships sailed near the South China Sea islands claimed by China.

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The Higgins guided-missile destroyer and the Antietam, a guided-missile cruiser reportedly came within 12 nautical miles of the Paracel Islands.

"When they (Chinese) do things that are opaque to the rest of us, then we cannot cooperate in areas that we would otherwise cooperate in," Mattis said, adding,"we are going out of our way to cooperate with Pacific nations, that's the way we do business in the world, but we are also going to confront what we believe is out of step with international law." 

China's territorial claims in the area is disputed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. China on its part has been flying its bombers on the disputed islands as part of its training exercise.