{"id":162550,"date":"2018-05-04T01:32:35","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T05:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=162550"},"modified":"2018-05-04T01:32:35","modified_gmt":"2018-05-04T05:32:35","slug":"report-china-quietly-installed-missiles-in-spratlys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/05\/04\/report-china-quietly-installed-missiles-in-spratlys\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: China \u2018quietly\u2019 installed missiles in Spratlys"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"According<\/a>
FILE: The report further read that the missile platforms were moved to the bases in the Spratly Islands within the past 30 days (Photo: Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A United States (US)-based television network reported on May 2, Wednesday, that China \u201cquietly\u201d installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems in the Philippine-claimed reefs Kagitingan, Zamora, and Panganiban.<\/p>\n

Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) in an article did not identify its sources to grant their request for anonymity, only disclosing that these sources had \u201cdirect knowledge of US intelligence reports.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report further read that the missile platforms were moved to the bases in the Spratly Islands within the past 30 days.<\/p>\n

A US official also told CNBC that they have consistently called on China and other claimants to refrain from further \u201cland reclamation, construction of new facilities, and militarization of disputed features, and to commit to managing and resolving disputes peacefully with other claimants.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe further militarization of outposts will only serve to raise tensions and create greater distrust among claimants,\u201d the official further said.<\/p>\n

On Thursday during a press briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying defended China without confirmation of the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina\u2019s peaceful construction in the Spratly archipelago, including the development of necessary national defense facilities, is aimed at protecting China\u2019s sovereignty and security,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who don\u2019t intend to violate have no reason to worry,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in a separate interview, US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim told reporters also on Thursday, a day after CNBC released its report, \u201cWe are concerned anytime a claimant, including China, takes an aggressive unilateral action toward militarization.\u201d<\/p>\n

As early as December 2016, China\u2019s Defense Ministry issued a statement on its website, defending its \u201cright\u201d to militarize its artificial islands.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for necessary military installations, they are mainly for defense and self-protection and are legitimate and lawful.\u201d<\/p>\n

It then added, \u201cIf someone makes a show of force at your front door, would you not ready your slingshot?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A United States (US)-based television network reported on May 2, Wednesday, that China \u201cquietly\u201d installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":159507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[420,17014,50557,50559,12751,12580,50558],"class_list":["post-162550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-china","tag-hua-chunying","tag-kagitingan","tag-panganiban","tag-spratly-islands","tag-sung-kim","tag-zamora","mauthors-bea-kirstein-t-manalaysay","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}