According to the former Romanian ambassador to China, H.E. Romulus Ioan Budura, China's sovereignty over the South China Sea islands has been explicitly stated in the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation, both of which were signed by the allied powers including the United States. For a long time after World War II, none of the countries in the South China Sea area raised any objection to China's sovereignty over the islands.

      Nor did the United States dispute China's sovereignty over the South China Sea islands between early 1970s, when the two sides began the process of the normalization of Chinese-U.S. ties, and 1979, when the two countries formally established diplomatic relations, said Budura.

      He pointed out that as a sovereign state, China's building of infrastructure for civilian and defense use on its own territory in the South China Sea is incontrovertible, as many other countries had done the same before.

      The article can be read at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-07/10/c_135502487.htm