(VOVworld) - The US will not recognize China’s unilateral claims over an exclusion zone in the East Sea, said US Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work this week.

Satellite imagery shows a Chinese-built dock and seawall on Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands. Photo: Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative

Work noted that China’s declaration has no basis in international law, and the US will continue to fly, sail, and go wherever international law allows. The US has also told China that an air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, over the East Sea would be destabilizing and the US prefers that all claims in the region be handled through mediation and not through force or coercion.

The statement was made as China's President Xi Jinping prepares to visit Washington for a Nuclear Security Summit where he is scheduled to meet with US President Barack Obama.

US officials have expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in the coming weeks in a case brought by the Philippines against China over its East Sea claims could prompt Beijing to declare an ADIZ in the region.

Nhat Quynh, Van Hop, VOV correspondent in the US