Chinese Missile Systems in South China Sea Could Raise Risks of Conflict With US
SputnikNews.com
04.05.2018
MOSCOW (Sputnik), Tommy Yang – Defense missile systems installed in Chinese naval bases in the South China Sea could increase the risks of possible military clashes with the United States in the future, as Washington seeks to contain Beijing’s growing strength and influence in the region, experts told Sputnik.
The Chinese military has installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems on three reefs of the disputed Spratly Islands, which six countries in the region have territorial claim over, US media reported on Wednesday, citing US intelligence reports.
During a regular briefing on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying defended China’s deployment of missile systems, stressing “the relevant deployment targets no one” and reiterating “anyone with no invasive intention will find no reason to worry about this.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters on Thursday that the United States has “raised concerns” with the Chinese side over the issue, warning “there will be near-term and long-term consequences.”
Lock and Load
As China continued to boost its military presence in the South China Sea by building artificial islands and constructing additional military facilities in recent years, the United States, wary of growing Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific region, started to conduct freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) while trying to secure support from neighboring countries.
The deployment of Chinese defense missile systems on the disputed islands could greatly aggravate the chances of military clashes between the two nations, if the United States decides to continue to conduct FONOPs in the region in the future, military analysts warned.
“It’s worth noting that the missiles are deployed on islands where the United States had previously conducted FONOPs off. The deployment means that American warships would now be within targeting range of the Chinese should new FONOPs be carried out. The question now is would more South China Sea FONOPs be carried out despite the credible ‘anti-access/area-denial’ umbrella that Beijing has created? If the answer to that question turns out to be ‘no,’ the United States would be seen to be backing down in the face of the Chinese missile threat. If the answer turns to be a ‘yes,’ we could expect some edgy encounters between US warships and Chinese forces on South China Sea islands, however, if either side were to lock their radar on the other party’s forces like what the PLA Navy did in 2013 on a Japanese warship, things could take an ugly turn if cooler heads do not prevail,” Ben Ho, a naval analyst with the Military Studies Program at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told Sputnik.
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