OPINION:
After installing surface to air missile systems in the South China Sea, smack dab in the middle of some of the world’s most busy shipping lanes, evidence is now being released that shows China is further militarizing the region by building radar facilities on the islands as well.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, reports the radar installations “could significantly change the operational landscape in the South China Sea,” reports the Wall Street Journal. The construction of the radar systems appears to be on four of the Spratly Islands, south of where China deployed surface to air missile systems recently on the Paracels Chain.
The “high-frequency radar installation” on Cuarteron Reef would “significantly bolster China’s ability to monitor surface and air traffic across the southern portion of the South China Sea,” CSIS said. Along with Beijing’s construction of new runways and air-defense capabilities in the area, they “speak to a long-term anti-access strategy by China—one that would see it establish effective control over the sea and airspace throughout the South China Sea.”
Luckily White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, [the U.S. is] “going to continue to evaluate the situation in the South China Sea.“
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