Update | Beijing calls reaction to missile deployment ‘hype’ in defending use of armaments in South China Sea disputed islands
Beijing has defended the deployment of armaments in the South China Sea after the United States and Taiwan said it had installed surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island in the Paracel chain.
Analysts said Beijing’s move had been a long time coming and more military facilities would be mounted in the Paracels, where China considers its claims are less disputable than in other parts of the sea.
News about the missile deployment on Woody Island, also known as Yongxing in China, was first reported by Fox News, which cited a US official, and confirmed by Taiwan’s defence ministry yesterday.
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The mainland defence ministry said defence facilities on “relevant islands and reefs” had been in place for many years to safeguard China’s territorial sovereignty, adding that the latest reports about missile deployment were nothing but “hype”.
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Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said yesterday he was not aware of the specifics of the deployment but that any arms would be used for defence and were not part of a military build-up.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said news of the deployment had been “created” by certain Western media and they should instead focus on the civilian facilities China had been building in the area.
The Fox News report said it had obtained satellite images indicating that the Hongqi-9 air defence system had been set up on Woody Island, which is controlled by China but also claimed by Tiawan and Vietnam. The system has a range of 200km.
Xu Guangyu, a retired People’s Liberation Army general, said the system was commonly used on Chinese islands and would be a normal addition to Woody Island, which houses the municipal government of Sansha city in Hainan. The city was set up in 2012, nominally to administer several island chains in the South China Sea.
