South China Sea Radar Control Another New Threat From China

Feb 27, 2016, 02:27

China is "changing the operational landscape" in the South China Sea by deploying missiles and radar as part of an effort to militarily dominate East Asia, a senior USA military official said on Tuesday.

After the deployment of fighter jets to Woody Island, officials are concerned the Chinese might send them south to the Spratly islands next.

Harris also said he supports regular U.S. air and naval patrols to assert freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, a vital waterway through which more than US$5 trillion in global trade passes every year.

First missiles, now fighter jets.

China previously operated radars on Fiery Cross but the latest installations would give it far more extensive coverage, regional military analysts said.

China hopes the United States abides by its promises not to take sides in the dispute and stop "hyping up" the issue and tensions, especially over China's "limited" military positions there, she said.

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Hua Chunying said worldwide law entitles freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

The U.S. and Chinese foreign ministers said Tuesday they have made progress on details of a U.N. Security Council resolution to punish North Korea for its recent nuclear test and rocket launch.

Woody Island is the largest island in the Paracel chain of islands in the South China Sea, and has had a runway since the early 1990s.

China has long claimed that its development of artificial islands was for civilian purposes, including weather observation, prompting Australia's foreign minister Julie Bishop to ask Beijing if other countries could have access to the facilities.

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart discussed a range of issues including the South China Sea disputes and North Korea's nuclear program.

Last week China reportedly deployed a surface to missile launcher in Woody Island, one of the many disputed pieces of land in the region.

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"It's important to notice that in recent decades some countries have illegally occupied China's reefs and atolls and have engaged in large-scale military constructions not only of radars, but also of missiles and all kinds of cannons and artilleries", he said.

Wang, speaking beside Kerry later in the day, said that "China sees the islands historically as China's territory" and "has a right to uphold its territorial integrity and lawful and legitimate maritime rights and interests".

Kerry said a draft was being evaluated in both Washington and Beijing, and if approved it would go beyond previous resolutions against North Korea over its nuclear and missile programmes.

Once again, this news likely does not bode well for already rising tensions in the region where Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan and Indonesia all hold competing claims to a vast area that China claims as its own, dating back to ancient times.

The ministry's remarks came after a report from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies on Monday saying satellite images showed China might be installing a radar system on the Nansha Islands.

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