China said it has every right to protect its interests in the South China Sea.

This according to a top Chinese military official who was responding to comments by the U.S. Secretary of Defense criticizing Beijing’s military deployments. Meanwhile, the keynote speaker at the Shangri-la Dialogue – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi – took a different approach.

CGTN’s Miro Lu reports from Singapore.

• Sourabh Gupta is a senior Asia-Pacific international relations policy specialist.
• Victor Gao is the director of the China National Association of International Studies.
• Merrill Matthews is a resident scholar for the Institute for Policy Innovation.
• Paolo Von Schirach is the president of the Global Policy Institute.

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China has resolve and capability to defend its sovereignty, said He Lei, head of Chinese delegation to Shangri-La Dialogue, on Saturday in response to US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' claim that US would continue to supply weapons to #Taiwan pic.twitter.com/SWwl0jZyUG

— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) June 2, 2018

It was an absolute honour to address the Shangri-La Dialogue 2018 and speak at length about various subjects relating to our neighbourhood and the world. Here is my speech. @IISS_org https://t.co/DDWTH28XRK pic.twitter.com/StsQaxdYhU

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 1, 2018

The 17th Shangri-La Dialogue wraps up on Sunday in Singapore, with Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, regional security, China's positive role, widely discussed #Shangri-La Dialogue https://t.co/JDHtkq7HRJ pic.twitter.com/RqJHMpCFfN

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) June 4, 2018

China plays crucial and constructive role in maintaining peace and security in Asia-Pacific, say observers attending Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore pic.twitter.com/jJAbsNHvly

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) June 3, 2018