The status of the South China Sea has become one of the main theaters of tension between the Chinese government and the United States. China claims most of the sea as its sovereign territory, although the waterways have historically been treated as international and neighboring states have also made territorial claims. China recently deployed anti-ship missiles and other weapons to islands that were artificially expanded to be capable of holding military armaments, after years of promising not to do so.

“Despite China’s claims to the contrary, the placement of these weapons systems is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said last week.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wants the U.S. military to develop a plan — including new technology or military assets — to “destroy” the South China Sea installations, so that policymakers in both countries will understand that the two sides are on an equal footing in the region.

“If they’ve created a missile base that we can destroy, because we can position enough assets in the region that can penetrate defenses and destroy it, then we have neutralized that advantage,” Rubio told the Washington Examiner.

Hua said that Rubio, who has also warned of an espionage and propaganda risk emanating from Chinese government-backed education programs, has a “Cold War mentality” for no reason.

“We never do such things as ‘interference’ or ‘infiltration,’” she said. “That is definitely not Chinese style. We hope that certain people could take off their tinted glasses and take off their ‘insulation clothes,’ the sooner the better, and view the development of China and the world in an objective way.”