China installs weapons systems on artificial islands: U.S. think tank(pics)

[Saifullah Sani]

China appears to have installed weapons, including anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, on all seven of the artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea, a U.S. think tank reported, citing new satellite imagery.

The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said its findings, made available first to Reuters on Wednesday, come despite statements by the Chinese leadership that Beijing has no intention to militarize the islands in the strategic trade route, where territory is claimed by several countries.

China said on Thursday that, while its construction on islands and reefs in the South China Sea was mainly for civilian use, it was "legitimate and normal" for it to take steps to defend its territory.

AMTI said it had been tracking construction of hexagonal structures on Fiery Cross, Mischief and Subi reefs in the Spratly Islands since June and July. China has already built military length airstrips on these islands.

"It now seems that these structures are an evolution of point-defense fortifications already constructed at China's smaller facilities on Gaven, Hughes, Johnson, and Cuarteron reefs," it said citing images taken in November.

"This model has gone through another evolution at (the) much-larger bases on Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief reefs."

Satellite images of Hughes and Gaven reefs showed what appeared to be anti-aircraft guns and what were likely to be close-in weapons systems (CIWS) to protect against cruise missile strikes, it said.

Images from Fiery Cross Reef showed towers that likely contained targeting radar, it said.

AMTI said covers had been installed on the towers at Fiery Cross, but the size of platforms on these and the covers suggested they concealed defense systems similar to those at the smaller reefs.

"These gun and probable CIWS emplacements show that Beijing is serious about defense of its artificial islands in case of an armed contingency in the South China Sea," it said.

"Among other things, they would be the last line of defense against cruise missiles launched by the United States or others against these soon-to-be-operational air bases."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing in Beijing that he "did not understand" the situation referred to in the report.

"The Nansha islands are China's inherent territory. China's building of facilities and necessary territorial defensive facilities on its own territory is completely normal," he said, using China's name for the Spratlys.

"If China's building of normal facilities and deploying necessary territorial defensive facilities on its own islands is considered militarization, then what is the sailing of fleets into the South China Sea?" he added, in an apparent reference to U.S. "freedom of navigation" patrols in the waters.



PHILIPPINES SAYS "BIG CONCERN"

The Philippines, one of several countries with competing territorial claims in the South China Sea, said it was still verifying the report.

"But if true it is a big concern for us and the international community who use the South China Sea lanes for trade," said Defense Minister Delfin Lorenza during a visit to Singapore with President Rodrigo Duterte.

"It would mean that the Chinese are militarizing the area which is not good."

Vietnam's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

AMTI director Greg Poling said AMTI had spent months trying to figure out what the purposes of the structures was.

"This is the first time that we're confident in saying they are anti-aircraft and CIWS emplacements. We did not know that they had systems this big and this advanced there," he told Reuters.

"This is militarization. The Chinese can argue that it's only for defensive purposes, but if you are building giant anti-aircraft gun and CIWS emplacements, it means that you are prepping for a future conflict.

"They keep saying they are not militarizing, but they could deploy fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles tomorrow if they wanted to," he said. "Now they have all the infrastructure in place for these interlocking rings of defense and power projection."The report said the installations would likely back up a defensive umbrella provided by a future deployment of mobile surface-to-air missile (SAM) platforms like the HQ-9 system deployed to Woody Island in the Paracel Islands, farther to the north in the South China Sea.

It forecast that such a deployment could happen "at any time," noting a recent Fox News report that components for SAM systems have been spotted at the southeastern Chinese port of Jieyang, possibly destined for the South China Sea.


"READY YOUR SLINGSHOT"

Singapore-based South China Sea expert Ian Storey said he believed the move would help ready the facilities for the probable next step of China flying jet fighters and military transport planes to its new runways.

“From the outset it’s been quite obvious that the artificial islands were designed to serve as military outposts in the South China Sea,” said Storey, of the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute.

“Even while tensions are at a relatively low ebb, I think we can expect to see military flights to the Spratlys in the coming months – including the first jet fighters," Storey said.

The United States has criticized what it called China's militarization of its maritime outposts and stressed the need for freedom of navigation by conducting periodic air and naval patrols near them that have angered Beijing.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has also criticized Chinese behavior in the South China Sea while signaling he may adopt a tougher approach to China's assertive behavior in the region than President Barack Obama.

The State Department said it would not comment on intelligence matters, but spokesman John Kirby added:

"We consistently call on China as well as other claimants to commit to peacefully managing and resolving disputes, to refrain from further land reclamation and construction of new facilities and the militarization of disputed features."

China's Defense Ministry said in a statement on its microblog on Thursday that it was "legitimate and lawful" for it to place defensive military installations on islands where it said Beijing had "indisputable sovereignty".

"If someone makes a show of force at your front door, would you not ready your slingshot?" it said.



(Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati, Karen Lima, Greg Torode, My Pham, Manuel Mogato, Ben Blanchard and Michael Martina; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Alistair Bell, Lincoln Feast and Alex Richardson)

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southchinasea-china-arms-idUSKBN1431OK

 

[maximuswarrior]

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has also criticized Chinese behavior in the South China Sea while signaling he may adopt a tougher approach to China's assertive behavior in the region than President Barack Obama.

We'll see what this Twitter clown Trump can do.

 

[TaiShang]

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has also criticized Chinese behavior in the South China Sea while signaling he may adopt a tougher approach to China's assertive behavior in the region than President Barack Obama.

We'll see what this Twitter clown Trump can do.

Trump can have lots of likes and re-tweets.

But, I do not see the reason for this alarmist article.

First of all, all AMTI is doing is a guess work. They cannot really know about the details because they are not allowed to see the developed islands for themselves.

Second, defensive installations are not new and even Vietnam is currently enlarging Spratly island to accommodate larger aircrafts.

Third, it is not militarization, it is economization, because the islands are built for the primary purpose of ensuring trade security and economic development.

Besides, if THAAD in Korea is a defensive system, then, China putting nukes on those generated islands would be no more than a defensive measure.

In the end, the line between defense and offense is drawn by intentions. US and its few remaining allies in the region are to believe in China's good intentions or else they will suffer from the perennial state of guessing and worrying.

 

[Saifullah Sani]

China appears to add weapons to man-made islands in South China Sea

A Chinese H-6K bomber patrols the islands and reefs in the South China Sea in this undated image. (Liu Rui / Xinhua)

China appears to have installed anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapons on its man-made islands in the strategically vital South China Sea, a U.S. security think-tank says, upping the stakes in what many see as a potential Asian powder keg.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, said in a report late Wednesday that the anti-aircraft guns and close-in weapons systems designed to guard against missile attack have been placed on all seven of China's newly created islands.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday that he could not confirm the report, but Republican Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the imagery shows China is militarizing the South China Sea. He called for a "determined response" from the U.S. and its allies.

"The United States must take immediate steps to underscore our unwavering commitment to freedom of the seas and to enforce a stable balance of power in the region," McCain said in a statement.
The outposts were built in recent years over objections by the U.S. and rival claimants by piling sand on top of coral reefs, followed by the construction of military-grade 3,000-meter (10,000-foot) airstrips, barracks, lighthouses, radar stations and other infrastructure.
CSIS based its conclusions on satellite images taken in mid-to-late November and published on the website of its Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
In a statement, China's Defence Ministry repeated that development on the islands was mainly for civilian purposes, but added that defensive measures were "appropriate and legal."
"For example, were someone to be threatening you with armed force outside your front door, would you not get ready even a slingshot?" the ministry statement said.
The Philippines, which has troops and villagers stationed on some reefs and islands near China's new artificial islands, expressed concern despite recently improving relations with China.
"If true, it is a big concern for us and the international community who uses the South China Sea lanes for trade," Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said. "It would mean that the Chinese are militarizing the area, which is not good."
CSIS experts wrote that China's new island armaments "show that Beijing is serious about defence of its artificial islands in case of an armed contingency in the South China Sea."
"Among other things, they would be the last line of defence against cruise missiles launched by the United States or others against these soon-to-be-operational air bases," the report said.
Beijing says the islands are intended to boost maritime safety in the region while downplaying their military utility. They also mark China's claim to ownership of practically the entire South China Sea.
Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei also claim territory in the waterway through which an estimated $5 trillion in global trade passes each year, while the U.S. Navy insists on its right to operate throughout the area, including in waters close to China's new outposts. China has strongly criticized such missions, known as freedom of navigation operations.
The U.S. has committed to beefing up its military presence in the area, although new uncertainty has been introduced by incoming president Donald Trump, who has called for a reconsideration of its commitments to its Asian allies, including Japan and South Korea, while simultaneously criticizing China and speaking with the president of China's longtime rival Taiwan.
"The timing is significant in that these first clear images come amid Trump's challenging comments about China and its South China Sea fortresses," said Alexander Neill, a senior fellow for Asia-Pacific security for the International Institute for Strategic Studies based in Singapore.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said on a visit to the U.S. last year that "China does not intend to pursue militarization" of the area, prompting some foreign experts to accuse China of going back on its word with its new deployments.
Looking forward, the nature of China's new military deployments will likely be calibrated in response to moves taken by the U.S., said the IISS's Neill.
"China will argue that they are entitled to place whatever they want there in reaction to U.S. actions," Neill said. "The big question is whether Trump will embark on a more strident or discordant policy in the South China Sea."
http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/china-a...man-made-islands-in-south-china-sea-1.3204341

 

[Thorough Pro]

Their islands their weapons, what's the issue?

 

[Pangu]

Can't even see what weapons are installed. Just some squares denoting something, at least they should provide a close up & clear shot. They shld also take pix of other claimants weapon installations on their control reefs & island to be fair, but we all know their agenda for not doing so.

 

[TaiShang]

Island defenses 'legitimate, legal'
China Daily, December 16, 2016

Beijing said on Thursday that necessary military measures on the Nansha Islands are mainly for defense, citing a high-profile foreign military presence right "outside the front door", an apparent reference to the United States.

The Defense Ministry's remarks on its micro blog followed a report by a US think tank on Wednesday.

The report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, which cited recent satellite images, said China appeared to have installed weapons, including anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, on seven islands in the South China Sea.

The Defense Ministry said development on the Nansha Islands was mainly for civilian purposes, while necessary military measures there were mainly for defense and were "legitimate and legal".

"For example, were someone to be threatening you with armed force outside your front door, would you not get ready with even a slingshot?" the ministry said on the micro blog.

The US military has repeatedly conducted "freedom of navigation" operations in which ships and planes have passed close to Chinese territory.

Beijing said the moves were provocations and increased the risk of a military accident.

Admiral Harry Harris, who leads the US Pacific Command, said on Wednesday that the United States will be ready to confront China "where we must".

US president-elect Donald Trump also hinted on Twitter that he would be harsher than his predecessor with China in the South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing on Thursday, "If China's building of normal facilities and deploying necessary territorial defensive facilities on its own islands is considered militarization, then what is the sailing of fleets into the South China Sea?"

He said the Nansha Islands "are China's inherent territory".

He said the defensive facilities on China's territory are completely normal and have nothing to do with "militarization".

Zuo Xiying, a researcher of international relations at Renmin University of China, said, "Given existing foreign threats against China in the South China Sea, how can China put no defensive measures in the region?

"And, for sure, the US will continue using this topic to press China," he said.

Zuo added that it seems Beijing and Washington have different understandings of non-militarization in the South China Sea.

Alexander Neill, a senior fellow for Asia-Pacific security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore, told the Associated Press that, looking forward, China's new military deployments will likely be calibrated in response to moves taken by the US.

 

[Place Of Space]

Can't even see what weapons are installed. Just some squares denoting something, at least they should provide a close up & clear shot. They shld also take pix of other claimants weapon installations on their control reefs & island to be fair, but we all know their agenda for not doing so.

Officially says that's short range anti-missiles system and anti-aircrafts system.

 

[samsara]

So much the various western-sourced news over and over quote that the South China Sea is a vital passage of the international trade worth of about five trillion usd a year but hardly any source ever cares to elaborate which nations make up which portion of that international trade traffic, and who indeed makes the most of it so naturally has the most concerns of the peaceful development in the South China Sea.

Let alone any of that source ever care to mention when did any nation ever obstruct the peaceful passage of ships there, when is the freedom of peaceful navigation ever in jeopardy there?

What a dishonest coverage indeed! Just like the increasing surge of the Fake News © streams.