Image copyright AMTI

New photographic evidence has emerged of "significant" Chinese military defences on artificial islands in the South China Sea, a think tank reports.

China had previously committed to not militarising its controversial developments in the region.

But satellite images published by a US group appear to show anti-aircraft guns and missile defence systems on the seven islands.

Several countries claim territorial rights in the South China Sea.

In a report on Wednesday, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said it had been tracking construction of hexagon-shaped buildings on four of the Spratly islands for several months.

Image copyright AMTI

It said the new buildings were an "evolution" of structures on the three other islands, but it was now confident that all of the buildings housed military defences.

The group says that some buildings "host what are most likely anti-aircraft guns" which have visible gun barrels in satellite images, while others are probably what it terms close-in weapons systems (CIWS).

CIWS are defence platforms used to detect and shoot down missiles and other aircraft.

Some of the structures have been buried, the group said - which would make them less vulnerable to enemy strikes.

Image copyright AMTI

"These gun and probable CIWS emplacements show that Beijing is serious about defence of its artificial islands in case of an armed contingency in the South China Sea," AMTI said.

"Among other things, they would be the last line of defence against cruise missiles launched by the United States or others against these soon-to-be-operational air bases," it added, in a reference to previous photos which seemed to show aircraft hangars being built.

China's Defence Ministry said on Thursday that its deployment of military equipment was "legitimate and lawful". A brief post on the Defence Ministry's microblog site described the equipment as necessary and defensive.

During his state visit to the US in September 2015, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said China did not intend to pursue militarisation of the Spratly islands but emphasised China's sovereignty over the region.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The USS Decatur sailed near the disputed Paracel Islands

The contested region holds crucial shipping lanes - which prompted the United States to send a warship into the area in October.

The White House said it was to "demonstrate ... lawful uses of the sea that the United States and all states are entitled to exercise under international law."

China accused the US of an illegal act, and of being "intentionally provocative".

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including reefs and islands also claimed by other nations, and has caused dismay in the region by building artificial islands and restricting access.

But Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei all have competing claims.

In July, an international tribunal ruled against Chinese claims to rights in the South China Sea, backing a case brought by the Philippines.

China, however, called the ruling "ill-founded" and says it will not be bound by it. </s> China appears to have installed anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapons on its man-made islands in the ­strategically vital South China Sea, a US security think-tank has said.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report that the anti-aircraft guns and close-in weapons systems designed to guard against missile attack have been placed on all seven of China’s newly created islands.

The outposts were built in recent years over objections by the US and rival claimants by piling sand on top of coral reefs, followed by the construction of military grade 10,000ft airstrips, barracks, lighthouses, radar stations and other infrastructure.

CSIS based its conclusions on satellite images taken in mid-to-late November and published on the website of its Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

China’s defence ministry repeated that development on the islands was mainly for civilian purposes, but added that defensive measures were “appropriate and legal”.

“For example, were someone to be threatening you with armed force outside your front door, would you not get ready even a slingshot?” the ministry statement said.

The Philippines, which has troops and villagers stationed on some reefs and islands near China’s new artificial islands, expressed concern despite recently improving relations with China.

“If true, it is a big concern for us and the international community who uses the South China Sea lanes for trade,” defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.

“It would mean that the Chinese are militarising the area, which is not good.”

China’s new island armaments “show that Beijing is serious about defence of its artificial islands in case of an armed contingency in the South China Sea,” CSIS experts wrote in the report.

“Among other things, they would be the last line of defence against cruise missiles launched by the US or others against these soon-to-be-operational air bases,” the report said.

Beijing said the islands are intended to boost maritime safety in the region while downplaying their military utility. They also mark China’s claim to ownership of practically the entire South China Sea.

Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei also claim territory in the waterway through which an estimated $5 trillion in global trade passes each year, while the US Navy insists on its right to operate throughout the area, including in waters close to China’s new outposts. </s> By Christopher Bodeen, The Associated Press

BEIJING — China appears to have installed anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapons on its man-made islands in the strategically vital South China Sea, a U.S. security think tank says, upping the stakes in what many see as a potential Asian powder keg.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, said in a report late Wednesday that the anti-aircraft guns and close-in weapons systems designed to guard against missile attack have been placed on all seven of China’s newly created islands.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday that he could not confirm the report, but Republican Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the imagery shows China is militarizing the South China Sea. He called for a “determined response” from the U.S. and its allies.

“The United States must take immediate steps to underscore our unwavering commitment to freedom of the seas and to enforce a stable balance of power in the region,” McCain said in a statement.

The outposts were built in recent years over objections by the U.S. and rival claimants by piling sand on top of coral reefs, followed by the construction of military-grade 3,000-meter (10,000-foot) airstrips, barracks, lighthouses, radar stations and other infrastructure.

CSIS based its conclusions on satellite images taken in mid-to-late November and published on the website of its Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

In a statement, China’s Defense Ministry repeated that development on the islands was mainly for civilian purposes, but added that defensive measures were “appropriate and legal.”

“For example, were someone to be threatening you with armed force outside your front door, would you not get ready even a slingshot?” the ministry statement said.

The Philippines, which has troops and villagers stationed on some reefs and islands near China’s new artificial islands, expressed concern despite recently improving relations with China.

“If true, it is a big concern for us and the international community who uses the South China Sea lanes for trade,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said. “It would mean that the Chinese are militarizing the area, which is not good.”

CSIS experts wrote that China’s new island armaments “show that Beijing is serious about defense of its artificial islands in case of an armed contingency in the South China Sea.”

“Among other things, they would be the last line of defense against cruise missiles launched by the United States or others against these soon-to-be-operational air bases,” the report said.

Beijing says the islands are intended to boost maritime safety in the region while downplaying their military utility. They also mark China’s claim to ownership of practically the entire South China Sea.

Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei also claim territory in the waterway through which an estimated $5 trillion in global trade passes each year, while the U.S. Navy insists on its right to operate throughout the area, including in waters close to China’s new outposts. China has strongly criticized such missions, known as freedom of navigation operations.

The U.S. has committed to beefing up its military presence in the area, although new uncertainty has been introduced by incoming president Donald Trump, who has called for a reconsideration of its commitments to its Asian allies, including Japan and South Korea, while simultaneously criticizing China and speaking with the president of China’s longtime rival Taiwan.

“The timing is significant in that these first clear images come amid Trump’s challenging comments about China and its South China Sea fortresses,” said Alexander Neill, a senior fellow for Asia-Pacific security for the International Institute for Strategic Studies based in Singapore.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on a visit to the U.S. last year that “China does not intend to pursue militarization” of the area, prompting some foreign experts to accuse China of going back on its word with its new deployments.

Looking forward, the nature of China’s new military deployments will likely be calibrated in response to moves taken by the U.S., said the IISS’s Neill.

“China will argue that they are entitled to place whatever they want there in reaction to U.S. actions,” Neill said. “The big question is whether Trump will embark on a more strident or discordant policy in the South China Sea.” </s> The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said its findings, made available first to Reuters on Wednesday, were based on analysis of satellite images of islands in the strategic trade route, where territory is claimed by several countries.

The United States has previously criticized what it called China's militarization of its maritime outposts, and stressed the need for freedom of navigation by conducting periodic air and naval patrols near them that have angered Beijing.

China's Defence Ministry said in a statement on its website on Thursday that the construction it had carried out on islands and reefs in the disputed Spratlys chain was "mainly for civilian use".

"As for necessary military installations, they are mainly for defence and self-protection and are legitimate and lawful," it said. "If someone makes a show of force at your front door, would you not ready your slingshot?"

The United States has conducted four freedom of navigation patrols, seen as a challenge to China's extensive territorial claims in the South China Sea, in the past year or so, most recently in October.

AMTI said satellite images of islands China has built in the Spratlys showed what appeared to be anti-aircraft guns and what were likely to be close-in weapons systems (CIWS) to protect against cruise missile strikes.

Other images showed towers that likely contained targeting radar, it said.

Beijing regards the islands as its sovereign territory, and has often said it is entitled to limited and necessary defensive installations.

AMTI director Greg Poling said the think-tank had spent months trying to figure out the purposes of the structures shown in the images.

"This is the first time that we're confident in saying they are anti-aircraft and CIWS emplacements. We did not know that they had systems this big and this advanced there," he told Reuters.

"This is militarization. The Chinese can argue that it's only for defensive purposes, but if you are building giant anti-aircraft gun and CIWS emplacements, it means that you are prepping for a future conflict."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing in Beijing that he "did not understand" the situation referred to in the AMTI report.

"The Nansha islands are China's inherent territory. China's building of facilities and necessary territorial defensive facilities on its own territory is completely normal," he said, using China's name for the Spratlys.

"If China's building of normal facilities and deploying necessary territorial defensive facilities on its own islands is considered militarization, then what is the sailing of fleets into the South China Sea?"

The Philippines, one of several countries with competing territorial claims in the South China Sea, said it was still verifying the report.

"But if true it is a big concern for us and the international community who use the South China Sea lanes for trade," said Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana. "It would mean that the Chinese are militarising the area which is not good."

Lorenzana's comments were made during a visit to Singapore with President Rodrigo Duterte, where he also said the United States had agreed to sell the Philippine Navy two advanced radar systems to boost its surveillance capability in the South China Sea.

Australia too voiced concerns about China's actions in the disputed waterway.

"The building of artificial islands and the possible militarization is creating an environment of tension and mistrust between claimants and other regional states," said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in a statement.

"We urge claimants to refrain from coercive behavior and unilateral actions designed to change the status quo in disputed areas."

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has criticized Chinese behavior in the South China Sea, while signaling he may adopt a tougher approach to China's assertive behavior in the region than President Barack Obama.

The State Department said it would not comment on intelligence matters, but spokesman John Kirby added: "We consistently call on China as well as other claimants to commit to peacefully managing and resolving disputes, to refrain from further land reclamation and construction of new facilities and the militarization of disputed features." </s> BEIJING—A US think tank says recent satellite images appear to show that China has installed anti-aircraft and antimissile weapons on its man-made islands in the strategically vital South China Sea, upping the stakes in what many see as a potential Asian powder keg.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (SIS) said in a report late Wednesday the anti-aircraft guns and close-in weapons systems designed to guard against missile attack have been placed on all seven of China’s newly created islands.

The outposts were built in recent years by piling sand on top of coral reefs,

 followed by the construction of military-grade 3,000-meter (10,000-foot) airstrips, barracks, lighthouses radar stations and other infrastructure.

CSIS based its conclusions on satellite images taken of the islands in mid- to late-November, and published on the web site of its Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

China’s new island armaments “show that Beijing is serious about defense of its artificial islands in case of an armed contingency in the South China Sea,” CSIS experts wrote in the report.

“Among other things, they would be the last line of defense against cruise missiles launched by the United States or others against these soon-to-be-operational air bases,” the report said.

China’s defense ministry did not immediately respond on Thursday to a faxed request for comment. Beijing says the manufactured islands are intended to boost maritime safety in the region while downplaying their military utility.

They also mark China’s claim to ownership of practically the entire South China Sea, its islands, reefs and other maritime features.

Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam also claim territory in the waterway through which an estimated $5 trillion in global trade passes each year, while the US Navy insists on its right to operate throughout the area, including in waters close to China’s new outposts. China has strongly criticized such missions, formally termed Freedom of Navigation Operations.

The US has committed to beefing up its military presence in the area, although new uncertainty has been introduced by incoming President Donald J. Trump who broke long-established diplomatic protocol by talking on the phone earlier this month with the president of China’s longtime rival Taiwan.

Trump has called for a reconsideration of its commitments to its Asian allies, including Japan and South Korea, while simultaneously criticizing Chinese trade policy toward the US, along with its new territorial assertiveness.

Trump referred to China’s man-made islands in a tweet earlier this month, saying Beijing didn’t ask the US if it was OK to “build a massive military complex in the South China Sea.”

“The timing is significant in that these first clear images come amid Trump’s challenging comments about China and its South China Sea fortresses,” said Alexander Neill, a senior fellow for Asia-Pacific security for the International Institute for Strategic Studies based in Singapore.

In all, China has reclaimed more than 1,295 hectares (3,200 acres) of land in the southeastern South China Sea. The US says the building doesn’t give China any additional territorial rights and an international arbitration panel in The Hague ruled over the summer against China’s historical claim to ownership of waters within the South China Sea. Beijing has ignored the ruling.

China has sought to emphasize the usefulness of the island developments for civilian navigation in the area, while also asserting its right to equip them with whatever means deemed necessary for their defense. Chinese President Xi Jinping said on a visit to the US last year that “China does not intend to pursue militarization” of the area, prompting some foreign experts to accuse China of going back on its word with its new deployments.

Despite that, China considers it vital to equip the islands with defensive means given their distance—1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles)—from the Chinese mainland, together with the nearby presence of forces from rival claimants, such as Vietnam, said Yue Gang, a retired colonel and military analyst.

“As the matter of fact, these occupied islands have been armed and fortified for a long time,” Yue said. “No country in the world would only commit to providing civil services without considering its own security safety.” </s> China’s Defense Ministry did not specify what kinds of weapons the new satellite images showed but said any military hardware on the islands was reasonable.

BEIJING — China signaled Thursday that it had installed weapons on disputed South China Sea islands and would use them like a “slingshot” to repel threats, compounding tensions with the incoming Trump administration.

The Chinese message, in a Defense Ministry statement, suggested China was further watering down a pledge made by its president, Xi Jinping, to not militarize the islands.

The comments left little doubt that such installations were part of China’s plan to deepen its territorial claim over the islands, which has raised tensions with its neighbors and the United States over freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest commercial waterways.

They also were likely to further complicate China’s testy relations with President-elect Donald Trump. China’s rapid creation of artificial islands in the South China Sea, expanding former reefs and outcrops into guarded permanent outposts, already has become a major source of tension with the U.S. government.

The United States has said it will defend freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. The Chinese have accused the United States in recent weeks of “provocative” moves by sending warships near some of these islands, known as the Spratlys.

The Chinese have been creating harbors, runways and reinforced hangars big enough for military aircraft on the islands. But new satellite images made public this week appeared to reveal weapons placements for the first time.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington released the images through its Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative and said they showed “large anti-aircraft guns and probable close-in weapons systems,” which can theoretically thwart cruise-missile attacks.

China’s Defense Ministry statement, posted on its website in response to the images, did not specify what kinds of weapons they showed but said any military hardware on the islands was reasonable. It repeated China’s contention that its construction on the islands is mainly for civilian purposes.

“As for necessary military facilities, they are primarily for defense and self-protection, and this is proper and legitimate,” the Defense Ministry said. “For instance, if someone was at the door of your home, cocky and swaggering, how could it be that you wouldn’t prepare a slingshot?”

There was no immediate comment from Trump or his transition team.

Trump recently angered Chinese officials by holding a phone conversation with Tsai Ing-wen, the president of Taiwan, an island that China deems a breakaway province. It had been nearly four decades since a U.S. president or president-elect had such direct contact with a Taiwanese leader.

In an interview broadcast Sunday, Trump also criticized China over its trade imbalance with the United States, its military activities in the South China Sea and its ties to North Korea. China was “building a massive fortress in the middle of the South China Sea, which they shouldn’t be doing,” he said on Fox News.

During his campaign, Trump dwelled on accusations that China had systematically sapped U.S. industrial might, and he has indicated that trade issues will be a priority in dealings with Beijing. But the latest disclosures suggest how remote islands in the South China Sea could become a source of serious tensions, even military strife.

The Spratlys, which China calls the Nansha Islands, are the subject of an especially volatile mix of competing claims. Parts of the archipelago are also claimed by the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan. And the possibility of undersea oil and gas deposits has exacerbated the rivalries.

China, with the world’s second-biggest economy and a swelling military budget, has established an intimidating dominance across much of the South China Sea. The latest satellite images appeared to confirm its deepening military grip on the Spratlys.

The steps “show that Beijing is serious about defense of its artificial islands in case of an armed contingency in the South China Sea,” the Asia Maritime Defense Initiative said in its report about the images.

“Among other things, they would be the last line of defense against cruise missiles launched by the United States or others against” air bases that may soon go into operation on the islands, it said.

The images showed that the facilities were in place before Trump’s comments.

The Obama administration sought to play down both the images and the Chinese Defense Ministry’s response. “We watch Chinese naval developments very carefully, and we urge all parties in the South China Sea to avoid actions that raise tensions,” said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.

The images elicited a far more contentious response from hawkish Republicans, who do not necessarily share Trump’s views on China trade policy but see China’s actions in the South China Sea as an aggressive challenge to the United States.

Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the images confirmed “what has long been evident: China is militarizing the South China Sea, its leaders continue to lie about that fact, and Beijing is paying little to no price for its behavior.”

The Chinese government has said it respects freedom of civilian passage in the South China Sea but also called U.S. naval “freedom of navigation operations” dangerous meddling. The Chinese navy has not tried to block the operations.

Previous satellite pictures of the islands, released by the Asia Maritime Defense Initiative in August, show that China was building military facilities there. Those images appeared to show reinforced aircraft hangars at the Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief Reefs, all part of the disputed parts of the archipelago.

A spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday that his government had been entitled to take such steps and said they did not count as “militarization.” </s> Beijing's "illegal" island building in the South China Sea moved centre stage at an Asian summit Wednesday after the Philippines produced evidence it said showed fresh construction activity at a flashpoint shoal.

An artificial island at Scarborough Shoal could be a game changer in China's quest to control the sea and raises the risk of armed confrontation with the United States, according to security analysts.

Beijing this week insisted it had not started building at the shoal -- a move that could lead to a military outpost just 230 kilometres (140 miles) from the main Philippine island, where US forces are stationed.

But the Philippines on Wednesday released images it said showed Chinese ships in the area that were capable of dredging sand and other activities required to build an artificial island.

"We have reason to believe that their presence is a precursor to building activities on the shoal," defence department spokesman Arsenio Andolong told AFP.

"We are continuing our surveillance and monitoring of their presence and activities, which are disturbing."

China claims nearly all of the sea, through which $5 trillion in shipping trade passes annually, even waters approaching the coasts of the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations.

The competing territorial claims have long been a major source of tension in the region, with China using deadly force twice to seize control of islands from Vietnam.

Tensions have escalated sharply in recent years as China has built islands on reefs and islets in the Spratlys archipelago -- another strategically important location -- that are capable of supporting military operations.

The United States has reacted to that build-up by sailing warships close to the new islands, and sending warplanes over them.

This has deeply angered China, which has accused the Americans of "militarising the region", and raised concerns of armed conflict between the two world powers.

A UN-backed tribunal ruled in July that China's claims to most of the sea had no legal basis and its construction of artificial islands in the disputed waters was illegal.

But Beijing vowed to ignore the ruling.

China took control of Scarborough shoal in 2012 after a standoff with the Philippine Navy, and has since deployed large fishing fleets while blocking Filipino fishermen.

Expanding that presence with a military outpost is vital to achieving China's ambitions of controlling the sea, according to security analysts.

US officials fear a Chinese military airfield at the shoal would enable China to enforce a threatened air defence identification zone in the sea.

Another major concern is it allows China a military base close to where US forces regularly operate on the Philippine main island of Luzon.

US President Barack Obama reportedly directly warned his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during a meeting in March not to push ahead with any artificial island building there.

The United States, which is a treaty ally of the Philippines, has repeatedly said it does not want to fight a war over the shoal.

But military confrontation can not be ruled out if China does start to build an island, according to security analysts.

"We could witness a physical confrontation between Chinese Coast Guard and Filipino vessels backed up by the US Navy," Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor at Australia's University of New South Wales, told AFP.

An Obama aide on Wednesday played down the significance of the Philippine photos, telling reporters the United States had not detected any unusual activity at Scarborough Shoal.

When pressed on initial Philippine accusations on Monday before the photos were released, China insisted there were no dredging boats or others to prepare for island building.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had said he did not want to anger China by highlighting the territorial row at the summit of regional leaders in Laos this week.

But the release of the photos came just a few hours before Duterte and other leaders from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations met China's Li.

Also on Wednesday, the Philipppine coast guard announced that United States is giving Manila two used military aircraft, to help expand sea patrols in the face of territorial disputes with China.

The two Sherpa 30-seater aircraft will be delivered in December, Philippine coast guard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo told AFP.

"It will help us in the movements of the Philippine Coast Guard like patrol missions," Balilo added.

Obama is also in Laos for the regional meetings, which will conclude on Thursday with an East Asia summit. </s> WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Wednesday uninvited China from a major U.S.-hosted naval drill in response to what it sees as Beijing’s militarization of islands in the South China Sea, a decision China called unconstructive.

“As an initial response to China’s continued militarization of the South China Sea we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise,” said Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman.

PLA is the English-language acronym of China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army.

Logan did not specify what else the U.S. government might do to respond but stressed there was “strong evidence” that China had deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile systems and electronic jammers to contested features in the Spratly Islands.

“We find that a very unconstructive move,” the Chinese government’s top diplomat, State Councilor Wang Yi, told reporters in Washington after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Wang described China’s activity in the South China Sea as self-defense, saying it was working on a “much smaller scale” than what the United States had done in Hawaii and Guam.

“We hope that the U.S. will change such a negative mindset.”

Over the weekend China’s air force landed bombers on disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea as part of a training exercise in the region, triggering concern from Vietnam and the Philippines.

Satellite photographs taken on May 12 showed China appeared to have deployed truck-mounted surface-to-air missiles or anti-ship cruise missiles at Woody Island in the Paracel island chain to the north of the Spratlys, said Greg Poling, a South China Sea expert at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Poling, who heads CSIS’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, said the images showed China had also deployed J-11 combat aircraft as part of its exercises.

He said later satellite images, taken on May 20 and published by Fox News, showed the missile systems still in place, suggesting they could be there to stay.

The Rim of the Pacific exercise, known as RIMPAC, is billed as the world’s largest international maritime exercise, held every two years in Hawaii in June and July, and China has attended previously.

Abraham Denmark, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia under President Barack Obama, said the move was largely symbolic.

“To me it shows that the relationship is veering towards increasingly intense competition and the Pentagon sees diminishing returns on the value of military to military cooperation with China,” Denmark said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has praised China in recent months for its help putting pressure on North Korea, even amid concerns about a potential trade war between Washington and Beijing, the world’s two largest economies.

Earlier this month the United States said it had raised concerns with China about its latest militarization of the South China Sea and said there would be near-term and long-term consequences.

Pentagon officials have long complained that China has not been candid enough about its rapid military build-up and using South China Sea islands to gather intelligence in the region.

Chinese officials have accused Washington of viewing their country in suspicious, “Cold War” terms.

“On the so-called militarization in the South China Sea, we talked about this issue just now … It is a normal deployment and has nothing to do with militarization,” Wang said.

The United States has dispatched warships to disputed areas of the South China Sea in a bid to challenge China’s extensive sovereignty claims in the territory, which is subject to various claims by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia. — Reporting by Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart, David Brunnstrom and Lesley Wroughton; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by James Dalgleish and Tom Brown </s> CHINA'S HERE. One of the Chinese ships spotted near Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal), September 3, 2016. Photo courtesy Philippine Department of Defense

VIENTIANE, Laos (UPDATED) – Beijing came under pressure at an Asian summit on Wednesday, September 7, over its "illegal" island building in the South China Sea, after the Philippines produced evidence it said showed fresh construction activity at a flashpoint shoal.

An artificial island at Scarborough Shoal could be a game changer in China's quest to control the sea and raises the risk of armed confrontation with the United States, according to security analysts.

Beijing this week insisted it had not started building at the shoal – a move that could lead to a military outpost just 230 kilometers (140 miles) from the main Philippine island, where US forces are stationed.

But the Philippines on Wednesday released images it said showed Chinese ships in the area that were capable of dredging sand and other activities required to build an artificial island.

"We have reason to believe that their presence is a precursor to building activities on the shoal," defense department spokesman Arsenio Andolong told Agence France-Presse.

"We are continuing our surveillance and monitoring of their presence and activities, which are disturbing."

China claims nearly all of the sea, through which $5 trillion in shipping trade passes annually, even waters approaching the coasts of the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations.

The competing territorial claims have long been a major source of tension in the region, with China using deadly force twice to seize control of islands from Vietnam.

Illegal island building

A ship of the China Coast Guard near Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal), September 3, 2016. Photo courtesy Philippine Department of Defense

Tensions have escalated sharply in recent years as China has built islands on reefs and islets in the Spratlys archipelago – another strategically important location – that are capable of supporting military operations.

The United States has reacted to that build-up by sailing warships close to the new islands, and sending warplanes over them, deeply angering China.

A UN-backed tribunal ruled in July that China's claims to most of the sea had no legal basis and its construction of artificial islands in the disputed waters was illegal.

But Beijing vowed to ignore the ruling.

China took control of Scarborough shoal in 2012 after a standoff with the Philippine Navy, and has since deployed large fishing fleets while blocking Filipino fishermen.

Expanding that presence with a military outpost is vital to achieving China's ambitions of controlling the sea, according to security analysts.

US officials fear a Chinese military airfield at the shoal would enable Beijing to enforce a threatened air defence identification zone in the sea.

An outpost at the shoal would also put Chinese fighter jets and missiles within easy striking distance of US forces stationed in the Philippines.

US President Barack Obama reportedly directly warned his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during a meeting in March not to push ahead with any artificial island building there.

Conflict risk

Another Chinese ship near Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal), September 3, 2016. Photo courtesy Philippine Department of Defense

The United States, which is a treaty ally of the Philippines, has repeatedly said it does not want to fight a war over the shoal.

But military skirmishes cannot be ruled out if China does start to build an island, according to security analysts.

"We could witness a physical confrontation between Chinese Coast Guard and Filipino vessels backed up by the US Navy," Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor at Australia's University of New South Wales, told AFP.

An Obama aide on Wednesday played down the significance of the Philippine photos, telling reporters the United States had not detected any unusual activity at Scarborough Shoal.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had said he did not want to anger China by highlighting the territorial row at the summit of regional leaders in Laos this week.

But the release of the photos came just a few hours before Duterte and other leaders from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations met China's Li, in what his spokesman said was a deliberate move.

The Philippines and Singapore, which this year is ASEAN's lead negotiator with China, raised the dispute during the meeting.

"What was underlined... was the importance of the rule of law and adhering to international bodies," Duterte's spokesman, Martin Andanar, told reporters in Vientiane.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also called on China to abide by the tribunal's ruling, emphasising in his meeting with ASEAN leaders that the verdict was legally binding.

Obama is also in Laos for the regional meetings, which will conclude on Thursday with an East Asia summit.

But the US president cancelled his planned meeting with Duterte, during which the sea issue was to be discussed, after the volatile Philippine president called him a "son of a whore." – Rappler.com
Satellite images show anti-aircraft guns and missile defence systems being built on artificial islands in the South China Sea; China had previously committed to not militarising its controversial developments in the region.