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Chinese Weapons Spotted on Disputed Island, U.S. Says Chinese Weapons Spotted on Disputed Island, U.S. Says
(about 3 hours later)
SINGAPORE — The United States has spotted a pair of mobile artillery vehicles on an artificial island that China is building in the South China Sea, a resource-rich stretch of ocean crossed by vital shipping lanes, American officials said.SINGAPORE — The United States has spotted a pair of mobile artillery vehicles on an artificial island that China is building in the South China Sea, a resource-rich stretch of ocean crossed by vital shipping lanes, American officials said.
China’s construction program on previously uninhabited atolls and reefs in the Spratly Islands has already raised alarm and drawn protests from other countries in the region, whose claims to parts of the South China Sea overlap China’s. China’s construction program on previously uninhabited atolls and reefs in the Spratly Islands has already raised alarm and drawn protests from other countries in the region, whose claims to parts of the South China Sea overlap with China’s. The United States has also become increasingly vocal about its objections in recent days.
Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter called this week for China to halt the construction, saying that international law did not recognize Chinese claims of sovereignty over the new territories and that American warships and military aircraft would continue to operate in the area. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter called this week for China to halt the construction, saying that international law did not recognize Chinese claims of sovereignty over the new territories and that American warships and military aircraft would continue to operate in the area. He planned to reiterate those assertions in a speech Saturday morning in Singapore at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security conference that brings together most Asian countries and many other powers outside the region.
The artillery was spotted by satellites and surveillance aircraft about a month ago, and the two vehicles have since been either hidden or removed, according to American officials who spoke about intelligence matters on the condition of anonymity. “It is unclear whether they have been removed,” one of the officials said. “The United States is deeply concerned about the pace and scope of land reclamation in the South China Sea, the prospect of further militarization, as well as the potential for these activities to increase the risk of miscalculation or conflict among claimant states,” Mr. Carter will say, according to a prepared copy of his remarks.
Another said that even if the weapons are still on the island, they pose no threat to American naval forces or aircraft in the region, though the guns could reach some nearby islands claimed by other countries. China is not the only country to develop outposts in the South China Sea over the years, Mr. Carter notes. Vietnam, for instance, has 48, and the Philippines, a close American ally, has eight.
With Mr. Carter in Singapore to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue, a high-profile annual Asian security meeting that Chinese officials are also attending, American officials were reluctant to publicly discuss the intelligence they had collected about the artillery. “Yet, one country has gone much farther and much faster than any other,” he said. “And that’s China.”
China has constructed over 2,000 acres of new territory in the Spratly Islands in the past 18 months, which is “more than all other claimants combined,” Mr. Carter continues. “It is unclear how much farther China will go. That is why this stretch of water has become the source of tension in the region and front-page news around the world.”
The artillery was spotted by satellites and surveillance aircraft about a month ago on one of the new islands China has built, and the two vehicles have since either been hidden or removed, according to another American official who spoke about intelligence matters on the condition of anonymity. The official added that even if the weapons remained on the island, they posed no threat to American naval forces or aircraft in the region, though the guns could reach some nearby islands claimed by other countries.
With Mr. Carter in Singapore for the security conference, which Chinese officials are also attending, American officials were reluctant to publicly discuss the intelligence they had collected about the artillery.
Brent Colburn, a spokesman traveling with Mr. Carter, would say only that the United States was aware of the weapons, whose detection was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.Brent Colburn, a spokesman traveling with Mr. Carter, would say only that the United States was aware of the weapons, whose detection was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized China’s deployment of artillery on the island as “a disturbing development and escalatory development.” Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who heads the Armed Services Committee, criticized China’s deployment of artillery on the island as “a disturbing development and escalatory development.”
“Their actions are in violation of international law, and their actions are going to be condemned by everyone in the world,” Mr. McCain was quoted by Reuters as saying in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where he stopped on Friday on his way to Singapore for the security conference. “Their actions are in violation of international law, and their actions are going to be condemned by everyone in the world,” Mr. McCain was quoted by Reuters as saying in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where he stopped on Friday on his way to Singapore for the conference.
“We are not going to have a conflict with China,” he said, “but we can take certain measures which will be a disincentive to China to continue these kinds of activities.”“We are not going to have a conflict with China,” he said, “but we can take certain measures which will be a disincentive to China to continue these kinds of activities.”
There was no immediate comment from Chinese officials about the weapons. There was no immediate comment from Chinese officials about the weapons. But China has sent its most high-powered delegation yet to the annual meeting in Singapore; a top military official, Adm. Sun Jianguo, is scheduled to speak at the conference.
A top Chinese military official, Adm. Sun Jianguo, is scheduled to speak at the conference in Singapore about Chinese military policies. Admiral Sun, the deputy chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army, which includes the navy, will lead the strongest delegation of military officials that China has yet sent to the annual forum. China released a military strategy document this week that, for the first time, called for its navy to project force beyond its coastal waters into the open oceans. Western officials said that because of its timing, the document seemed intended as a challenge to other participants in the conference.
China released a military strategy document this week that, for the first time, called for its navy to project force beyond its coastal waters into the open oceans. Western officials said because of its timing, the document seemed intended as a challenge to other participants in the conference. And days before the document was released, China demanded that an American military surveillance plane leave the skies above Fiery Cross Reef, which China has built into an island with a runway that its military can use. The American aircraft did not alter its course, American officials have said.
The heightened tensions between the United States and China over the South China Sea were on display last week when the United States sent a surveillance plane close to Fiery Cross Reef, which China has built into an island with a runway that military aircraft can use. The Chinese told the American plane to leave the area, according to a CNN television crew that was aboard the flight at the Pentagon’s invitation. China has said that it was building the artificial islands largely for civilian purposes, but it has not denied that it also envisions a military role for them. “Such constructions are within China’s sovereignty and are fair, reasonable, lawful and do not affect nor target any country, and are beyond reproach,” Hua Chunying, the spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, told reporters in April.
When an American littoral combat ship, the Fort Worth, conducted a weeklong patrol of waters near the Spratly Islands, including Fiery Cross Reef, a Chinese guided missile frigate, the Yancheng, followed the American vessel for a time, the Pentagon announced. Other American warships will conduct similar patrols, which will be the “new normal” for the Navy in the South China Sea, the Pentagon said. The United States disagrees, and American officials have stressed in recent days that the American-dominated security order in the region should be respected because it has brought calm and prosperity, a theme Mr. Carter will develop in his remarks on Saturday in Singapore.
China has said that it was building the artificial islands in the sea largely for civilian purposes, but it has not denied that it also envisions a military role for them. “It’s important for the region to understand that America is going to remain engaged,” he will say, according to the prepared remarks, and it will “continue to stand up for international law and universal principles and help provide security and stability in the Asia-Pacific for decades to come.”
In April, Hua Chunying, the spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters that the islands would be used to aid the country’s defense, though she did not provide details. “Such constructions are within China’s sovereignty and are fair, reasonable, lawful and do not affect nor target any country, and are beyond reproach,” she said. The implication is that China is threatening to upend that system, though Mr. Carter and other American officials have hesitated to say so directly, preferring to talk in generalities about the need for diplomatic solutions and inclusive security arrangements.
The United States disagrees, and American officials have stressed in recent days that the American-dominated security order in the region should be respected because it has brought calm and prosperity. But the island-building has been a major concern of the United States and Southeast Asian nations for more than a year, and Mr. Carter is not the first head of the Pentagon to say so at a regional security forum.
The implication is that China is threatening to upend that system, but the American officials have hesitated to say so directly, preferring to talk in generalities about all countries’ needing to find diplomatic solutions to their disputes in the South China Sea. At last year’s Shangri-La Dialogue, Chuck Hagel, Mr. Carter’s predecessor, said that China was engaged in “destabilizing, unilateral actions asserting its claims in the South China Sea.” The Philippines has also spoken out against Chinese island building.
Still, American officials have not been shy about pointing out that China has created roughly 2,000 acres of new land in the South China Sea, three quarters of it this year. The United States has also released video images taken by surveillance aircraft showing Chinese ships and dredges building runways and harbors on remote outcroppings in the sea. China has countered by pointing to the outposts built by the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea. But analysts say that the two nations did not build islands, and in any case their structures were generally built before 2002, when China and nine Southeast Asian nations signed a nonbinding agreement to “exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities” and to refrain from trying to inhabit any land features that were uninhabited at that time.
The island-building has have been a major concern of the United States and of Southeast Asian nations for more than a year, and Mr. Carter is not the first Pentagon leader to say so at a regional security forum. American and Southeast Asian officials are concerned that China may try to claim an exclusive economic zone in waters within 200 nautical miles of the new land formations, which they argue are ineligible for determining such zones.
At last year’s Shangri-La Dialogue, Chuck Hagel, who was then the secretary of defense, said that China was engaged in “destabilizing, unilateral actions asserting its claims in the South China Sea.” The Philippines has protested to China over island-building at two reefs since last spring, and in June 2014, President Benigno S. Aquino III spoke publicly about the movements of Chinese ships that he said could be involved in similar work at two other sites.
The Philippines and Vietnam have claims of their own in the South China Sea, and both built structures long ago on islets or reefs there. China has cited that history to defend its own construction.
But analysts say that those two countries did not build islands, and in any case their structures were generally built before 2002, when China and nine Southeast Asian nations signed a nonbinding agreement calling on all of them to “exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities” and to refrain from trying to inhabit any land features that were uninhabited at that time.
The most developed of China’s newly expanded land formations a year ago was Johnson South Reef, which China seized in 1988 after killing about 70 Vietnamese soldiers and sailors.
American and Southeast Asian officials are worried that China might try to claim an exclusive economic zone in waters within 200 nautical miles of the new land formations, which they argue are ineligible for measuring such zones.