South China Sea Radar Control Another New Threat From China

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is in Washington for three days of talks, met yesterday with US Secretary of State John Kerry amid sharpening tensions over the South China Sea and the Korean Peninsula.

Woody Island, a island in the South China Sea occupied by China and claimed by several other countries, is shown in satellite images taken on February 14, 2016 and February 3, 2016, in this handout image provided by ImageSat International N.V. 2016, on February 18, 2016. Asked about the Chinese radar systems, Kerry declared the U.S. had always been “very clear” that it was opposed to unilateral steps in reclamation and militarisation in the South China Sea.

The CSIS said in a report last month the Chinese military build-up in the region meant the South China Sea “will be virtually a Chinese lake” by 2030. All of this on top of islands that were artificially created to being with.

“I believe China seeks hegemony in East Asia”, he said.

The deployment of defense facilities is the result of China’s right to self-defense granted by global law, which is fully legitimate, said a press release from the Ministry of National Defense.

The U.S. and China have tentatively reached an agreement on North Korea that includes a ban on exporting jet fuel that the air force uses, South Korea’s Dong-A Ilbo newspaper reported, citing people it did not identify.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has found evidence that the Chinese government has begun constructing the radar system on Cuateron Reef in the Spratlys, one of many locations where China has constructed artificial land on reefs that are widely considered to be in international waters. “We’ve conducted these operations around the globe since 1979, including in the South China Sea and the South China Sea can not be an exception”.

The United States is “encouraging the peaceful resolution of competing maritime claims in the South China Sea – a goal that is definitely not helped by the militarization of facilities in that region”, Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But they appear leagues apart on the South China Sea.

Washington’s recent air and sea patrols near islands claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea have angered China.

The world should pay more attention to the civilian facilities China has built like lighthouses, Hua told a daily news briefing.

Reports indicate that China and the U.S. have both agreed that the sanctions against North Korea will not be so severe that it will worsen the security situation in the country.

His testimony added bite to Mr. Kerry’s own assertion, during a separate hearing Tuesday morning, that the Chinese muscle-flexing has only added to already seething friction over the overlapping claims to control large parts of the South China Sea.

China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, arrived in Washington yesterday (Feb. 23) to meet with John Kerry, the USA secretary of state.

The Obama administration is under congressional pressure to step up the US response to China’s actions.

They are also expected to discuss the mounting differences over the South China Sea, another issue that has put a growing strain on efforts to forge a cooperative relationship.