China has deployed an advanced surface-to-air missile system to one of the disputed islands it controls in the South China Sea, ratcheting up tensions with Taiwan even as US President Barack Obama urges restraint.
Taiwan defence ministry spokesman Major David Lo said missile batteries had been set up on Woody Island. Part of the Paracels chain, it has been under Chinese control for over 40 years but is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.
China’s foreign minister said reports by “certain Western media” should focus more on China’s building of lighthouses to improve shipping safety.
“As for the limited and necessary self-defence facilities that China has built on islands and reefs we have people stationed on, this is consistent with China’s right to self-protection under international law,” Wang Yi said.
The Chinese defence ministry said defence facilities on “relevant islands and reefs” had been in place for many years, adding that the latest reports about missile deployment were nothing but “hype”.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5-trillion in global trade passes every year.
The US conducts “freedom of navigation patrols” by ships and aircraft to assure unimpeded passage through the region, where Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.
Admiral Harry Harris, the commander of the US Pacific Command, said deployment of missiles to the Paracels would not be a surprise but would be a concern, and contrary to China’s pledge not to militarise the region. “We will conduct more, and more complex, freedom of navigation operations as time goes on in the South China Sea,” Harris said.
News of the missile deployment came as Obama and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations concluded a summit in California, where they discussed the need to ease tensions in the South China Sea but did not include specific mention of China’s assertive pursuit of its claims there.
China’s increasing military presence could lead to a Beijing-controlled air defence zone, analysts said.
“ reinforces the view that China intends to exert growing control in these international waters, including potentially by declaring an Air Defence Identification Zone,” said Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University.
Mira Rapp-Hooper, a South China Sea expert from the Centre for a New American Security, said it was not the first time that China had sent such weapons to the Paracels.
“I do think surface-to-air missiles are a considerable development,” she said. “If they have been deployed they are probably China’s effort to signal a response to freedom-of-navigation operations, but I don’t think it is a totally unprecedented deployment.”
Images from civilian satellite company ImageSat International show two batteries of eight surface-to-air missile launchers on Woody Island, as well as a radar system, Fox News said.
Beijing deploys missiles to island
Taiwan defence ministry spokesman Major David Lo said missile batteries had been set up on Woody Island. Part of the Paracels chain, it has been under Chinese control for over 40 years but is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.
China’s foreign minister said reports by “certain Western media” should focus more on China’s building of lighthouses to improve shipping safety.
“As for the limited and necessary self-defence facilities that China has built on islands and reefs we have people stationed on, this is consistent with China’s right to self-protection under international law,” Wang Yi said.
The Chinese defence ministry said defence facilities on “relevant islands and reefs” had been in place for many years, adding that the latest reports about missile deployment were nothing but “hype”.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5-trillion in global trade passes every year.
The US conducts “freedom of navigation patrols” by ships and aircraft to assure unimpeded passage through the region, where Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.
Admiral Harry Harris, the commander of the US Pacific Command, said deployment of missiles to the Paracels would not be a surprise but would be a concern, and contrary to China’s pledge not to militarise the region. “We will conduct more, and more complex, freedom of navigation operations as time goes on in the South China Sea,” Harris said.
News of the missile deployment came as Obama and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations concluded a summit in California, where they discussed the need to ease tensions in the South China Sea but did not include specific mention of China’s assertive pursuit of its claims there.
China’s increasing military presence could lead to a Beijing-controlled air defence zone, analysts said.
“ reinforces the view that China intends to exert growing control in these international waters, including potentially by declaring an Air Defence Identification Zone,” said Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University.
Mira Rapp-Hooper, a South China Sea expert from the Centre for a New American Security, said it was not the first time that China had sent such weapons to the Paracels.
“I do think surface-to-air missiles are a considerable development,” she said. “If they have been deployed they are probably China’s effort to signal a response to freedom-of-navigation operations, but I don’t think it is a totally unprecedented deployment.”
Images from civilian satellite company ImageSat International show two batteries of eight surface-to-air missile launchers on Woody Island, as well as a radar system, Fox News said.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos