(VOVworld) - China's leaders are leveraging the country's power to expand its international influence -- and its military footprint overseas.

China has increased the construction of military outposts at Fiery Cross Reef. (Photo: WSJ)

The US Department of Defense’s annual report on military and security developments involving China says in the near-term, China is using coercive tactics short of armed conflict, such as the use of law enforcement vessels to enforce maritime claims, to advance their interests in ways that are calculated to fall below the threshold of provoking conflict.

China paused its land reclamation effort in the Spratly Islands in late 2015 after adding more than 3,200 acres of land to the seven features it occupies in the archipelago. Although these artificial islands do not provide China with any additional territorial or maritime rights within the East Sea, China will be able to use them as persistent civil-military bases to enhance its long-term presence in the East Sea significantly. China continued to use maritime law enforcement ships and aircraft to patrol near the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands in order to challenge Japan’s claim.

Vietnamese Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Le Hai Binh has repeatedly affirmed Vietnam’s national sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes. Chinese militarization activities in the East Sea seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty and threatened peace, stability, security and navigational and aviation safety in the East Sea. Vietnam has asked China to show its responsibilities in words and actions in a constructive manner for peace and stability while respecting international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on Conducts of Parties in the East Sea.