答：中方支持半岛早日结束战争状态，主张构建持久的和平机制取代临时的停战机制。作为半岛问题重要当事方和当年《停战协定》缔约方，中方一直并将继续为此发挥应有作用。 

　　问：据报道，美方近日多次谈到所谓中国南海军事化问题，表示美将继续开展“航行自由行动”。美国防部长马蒂斯表示将在本周举行的香格里拉对话会上就此作出强硬表态。中方对此有何评论？ 

A: China supports an early end to the state of war on the Korean Peninsula and advocates replacing the temporary armistice with a permanent peace regime. As a major party concerned to the Korean Peninsula issue and a signatory to the Armistice Agreement, China will continue playing its part to this end. 

Q: According to reports, the US lately mentioned the so-called China's militarization in the South China Sea on several occasions and said that it would continue with its "freedom of navigation operation". US Defense Secretary James Mattis said that he would make hard-line remarks in response at the Shangri-La Dialogue this week. What is your comment?

　　答：美方有些人炒作所谓中国南海军事化问题，在我看来，有种“贼喊捉贼”的滑稽。 

　　美在南海地区军事存在远远超过中国和其他南海沿岸国家军力的总和。美军舰放着宽阔的南海航道不走，偏偏不时故意闯入中国有关岛礁邻近海域，还美其名曰“航行自由行动”。美方想要的果真是国际法赋予的航行自由吗？还是美国霸权词典里的“横行自由”？ 

A: From my point of view, by playing up the so-called China's militarization in the South China Sea, certain people in the US are staging a farce of a thief crying "stop thief". 

The US military presence in the South China Sea far exceeds the total military strength of China and other littoral countries. Straying away from the wide sea lanes in the South China Sea, the US warships deliberately trespass into the neighboring waters of China's relevant islands or reefs from time to time. They prettify it as "freedom of navigation operation". Does the US truly want the freedom of navigation entitled under the international law? Or does it just want the freedom to do whatever it likes as a hegemon? 

　　中国不是在南海最早部署武器的国家，也不是部署武器最多的国家，更不是在南海军事活动最频繁的国家。到底是谁在南海推动“军事化”，大家可以擦亮眼睛，答案不言自明。 

　　我愿再次重申，中方奉行防御性国防政策，人不犯我，我不犯人。中方在南海自己的岛礁上部署必要和有限的国土防御设施，是堂堂正正地行使国际法赋予我们的自保权和自卫权，正当合法。我们想奉劝美方有些人，放弃无谓的炒作，本着负责任的态度，多做有利于地区国家互信合作、有利于维护地区和平稳定的事。 

China is not the first to deploy weapons in the South China Sea region, neither is it the one that deploys the largest number of weapons, still less the one that conducts military activities most frequently there. It is self-evident to a keener eye that who is militarizing the South China Sea. 

I would like to reiterate that China follows a defense policy that is defensive in nature. We will never attack others unless we are attacked. By deploying only necessary and limited homeland defense facilities on its own islands and reefs in the South China Sea, China is exercising its right to self-preservation and self-defense entitled under the international law in an upright way. This is legitimate and legal. We urge certain people in the US to give up all the meaningless hyping up surrounding the situation and do more in a responsible way to enhance trust and cooperation between regional countries and promote regional peace and stability.