China Anti-aircraft guns in South China Sea

China has deployed long-range anti-aircraft missiles on a disputed South China Sea island, according to a media report on Wednesday that was downplayed by the Communist nation as Western news outlets’ attempt to create “stories”.

Satellite images showed two batteries of eight surface-to-air HQ-9 missile launchers as well as a radar system on Woody Island, part of the Paracel Island chain in the South China Sea, Fox News reported.

The report comes even as US President Barack Obama called for “tangible steps” to settle territorial disputes in the resource-rich region. According to the images, a beach on the island was empty on February 3, but the missiles were visible by February 14.

A US official said the imagery showed the HQ-9 air defence system with a range of over 200 km, which would pose a threat to any civilian or military airplane flying close by, the report said.

It is the same island where a US Navy destroyer sailed close to another contested island a few weeks ago. Woody Island is part of the Paracels chain, under Chinese control for more than 40 years also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam. The missiles arrived over the past week.

China described the report as media hype. “We believe this is an attempt by certain Western media to create news stories,” Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said. Claiming that the development was largely civilian oriented and benefited the region, Wang pointed to the construction of light houses, weather stations, and rescue and shelter facilities for fishermen.

“All of those are actions that China, as the biggest littoral state in the South China Sea, has undertaken to provide more public goods and services to the international community and play its positive role there,” he said.

Wang said China’s construction of military infrastructure was “consistent with the right to self-preservation and self- protection that China is entitled to under international law, so there should be no question about that.”

The reported move by China comes as President Obama hosted 10 Asian leaders in California, many of those concerned over China’s recent activity in the South China Sea.

The US will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, and will support the right of all countries to do the same, Obama said yesterday, as he called for “tangible steps” to reduce tensions in the disputed and natural resource-rich South China Sea.

The Pentagon was watching the developments closely, a defence official told the news channel. “The US continues to call on all claimants to halt land reclamation, construction, and militarisation of features in the South China Sea,” the official said.

In the past two years, China has built over 3,000 acres of territory atop seven reefs in the area. There are a total of three runways built on three of the artificial islands, the report said. China has said that it has a historical right to all of the South China Sea.

Taiwan and ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines also claim land features in these potentially resource-rich international shipping lanes.