China deploys fighter jets to disputed isle

WASHINGTON—China has deployed fighter jets to the same contested island in the South China Sea to which it also has sent surface-to-air missiles, US officials said on Tuesday.

Citing two unnamed US officials, Fox News said US intelligence services had spotted Chinese Shenyang J-11 and Xian JH-7 warplanes on Woody Island in the disputed Paracel island chain over the past few days.

One US official, however, said China regularly sends jets to Woody Island.

Navy Capt. Darryn James, a spokesperson for the US Pacific Command, confirmed the report, but he noted that Chinese fighter jets had previously used the island.

Woody Island, which is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam, has had an operational airfield since the 1990s but it was upgraded last year to accommodate the J-11.

“We are still concerned that the Chinese continue to put advanced arms systems on this disputed territory,” James said.

The move was reported as US Secretary of State John Kerry hosted his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in Washington.

Last week, China confirmed it had placed “weapons” on Woody Island, defending what it said was its sovereign right to do so.

A US official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Beijing has deployed surface-to-air missiles on the island, apparently HQ-9s, which have a range of about 200 kilometers.

Kerry said there would be “very serious talks” between the United States and China about the missile deployment, but he and Wang showed no signs they had reached agreement on easing tensions in the South China after their talks on Tuesday.

Wang had been scheduled to visit the Pentagon earlier Tuesday, but the visit was canceled due to a “scheduling conflict,” officials said.

Radars on Calderon

On Monday, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released satellite imagery showing what appeared to be high-frequency radar installations under construction on an artificial island on Philippine-claimed Calderon Reef (international name: Cuarteron Reef) in the Spratlys.

CSIS said in a report that the images showed that construction of the installations appeared nearly complete and that the artificial island now covered about 210,500 square meters.

“Two probable radar towers have been built on the northern portion of the feature, and a number of 20-meter poles have been erected across a large section of the southern portion,” the report said.

“Placement of a high-frequency radar on the reef would significantly bolster China’s ability to monitor surface and air traffic coming north from the Malacca Strait and other strategically important channels,” it added.

CSIS described as “notable” China’s earlier deployment of surface-to-air missiles, but the US think tank added that “does not alter the military balance in the South China Sea.”

“New radar facilities being developed in the Spratlys, on the other hand, could significantly change the operational landscape,” CSIS said.

‘Militarization’

Adm. Harry Harris Jr., head of the US Pacific Command, told the US Senate armed services committee on Tuesday that China was “clearly militarizing” the South China Sea.

Harris said he believed China’s deployment of surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island, new radars on Calderon Reef in the Spratlys and its building of airstrips were “actions that are changing, in my opinion, the operational landscape in the South China Sea.”

China, he said, is militarizing the South China Sea “and you have to believe in a flat Earth to think otherwise.”

Responding to those observations on Wednesday, Beijing said the media were ignoring radars and weapons deployed by other claimants in the South China Sea and unfairly targeting China.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said that as far as China was concerned, there was no dispute over ownership of the Paracels, and so China could deploy what it wanted on its territory without reproach.

“I suggest to the media that, your reports, you not selectively pump up or ignore things,” Hua told a daily news briefing in Beijing.

“Because when you pay attention to what China is deploying, do you also pay attention to other countries [that] over the years, on Chinese islands they have occupied, deployed many radars and advanced weaponry? I hope friends in the media can objectively, justly, rationally and calmly make their reports,” she said.

Excessive claims

China claims most of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year and where islets, reefs and atolls are believed to be sitting atop vast energy reserves.

The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan have rival claims in the strategic waterway.

China controls Calderon Reef, but it is claimed by the Philippines as part of the Kalayaan group of islands off Palawan province.

China has also built artificial islands on six other reefs claimed by the Philippines in the Spratlys: Kagitingan (Fiery Cross) Reef, Burgos (Gaven) Reef, Mabini (Johnson South) Reef, Panganiban (Mischief) Reef, Zamora (Subi) Reef and McKennan (Hughes) Reef.

The Philippines, supported by Vietnam, has submitted its dispute with China to the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration for resolution.

China has ignored the proceedings, but the tribunal is expected to hand down a decision by June.

China’s land reclamation and military buildup in the South China Sea have drawn international condemnation and the United States has said it will continue to sail through waters claimed by Beijing.

After a meeting with the leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations in California last week, US President Barack Obama called for “tangible steps” to lower tensions in the South China Sea.

But Obama also vowed to press US naval and air patrols and support other countries’ freedom of navigation and overflight in the region. Reports from AFP and Reuters