In a move likely to further increase already volatile tensions in the region, China has deployed fighter jets to a contested island in the South China Sea, the same island where China deployed surface-to-air missiles last week, two U.S. officials tell Fox News.
The dramatic escalation came as Secretary of State John Kerry hosted his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, at the State Department.
Wang said Tuesday he hoped that “close up” military flights and patrols by U.S. Navy ships over the contested islands would end.
Kerry said he wanted China to end its militarization of the contested islands in the South China Sea.
"We want to halt the expansion and the militarization of occupied features," he said.
His Chinese counterpart added that he didn't want to see any more U.S. military over flights or patrols.
"We don’t hope to see any more close-up military reconnaissance or the dispatch of missile destroyers or strategic bombers to the South China Sea," said Foreign Minister Wang.
Kerry however refused to blame China directly for the the military buildup in the South China Sea.
"It is important for all of the nations – China, Philippines, Vietnam, others – not to engage in any unilateral steps of reclamation, of building, of militarization. And the fact is that there have been steps by China, by Vietnam, by others that have unfortunately created an escalatory cycle," he said Tuesday.
Chinese Shenyang J-11s (“Flanker”) and Xian JH-7s (“Flounder”) have been seen by U.S. intelligence on Woody Island in the past few days, the same island where Fox News reported exclusively last week that China had sent two batteries of HQ-9 surface-to-air missiles while President Obama was hosting 10 Southeast Asian leaders in Palm Springs.
One U.S. official put the number of Chinese warplanes in the single digits, “under ten,” he said.
Credit to Fox News
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