SHANGHAI (REUTERS) - China and the United States should manage their differences over disputed waters in the South China Sea constructively, one of China's top military officials has said.

General Fang Fenghui, a member of China's Central Military Commission, told General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the two sides should "refrain from actions detrimental to the relations between the two countries and the two militaries", state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday (May 13).

The two men discussed the South China Sea in a video link-up on Thursday, it said.

The discussion comes at a time of heightened tension between China and the United States, which have traded accusations of militarising the South China Sea as China implements large-scale land reclamation and construction on disputed features while the United States has increased its patrols and exercises.

On Tuesday, China scrambled fighter jets as a US navy guided missile destroyer sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea and denounced the patrol as an illegal threat to peace.

The US defence department said the latest "freedom of navigation" operation was undertaken to "challenge excessive maritime claims" by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam that were seeking to restrict navigation rights in the South China Sea.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which US$5 trillion (S$6.8 trillion) in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims.

General Fang said China was not to blame for tensions with the United States in the South China Sea and urged the two sides "to bear the overall situation in mind and manage their differences in a constructive way", Xinhua reported.

The agency quoted General Dunford as calling for restraint in the South China Sea, and saying the United States was willing to work with China to establish "an effective mechanism on risk control so as to maintain stability in the South China Sea by peaceful means".