US has denounced China's efforts to steal technology from other nations and militarize man-made outposts in the South China Sea as a toolkit of coercion. <br />''<br />''US Acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan said in Singapore that hostile activities by Beijing must end. In his first major speech on the international stage, Shanahan mixed sharp criticism of China and warnings of North Korea's so called extraordinary threat with vows that the US will remain strongly committed to the Indo-Pacific region. He added that US is ready to invest billions of dollars in securing the region's stability.<br />''<br />''Shahanan's remarks underscored America's frayed relations with China and its new national defence strategy declaring power competition with China and Russia as top priorities.<br />''<span style="color: #222222;"><br />''Lt Gen Shao Yuanming, a senior Chinese officer expressed strong opposition to some of Shanahan's comments. He said that China has strong legal claims to the waterway and Beijing has put necessary deterrent facilities there in response to US provocation.</span>