China installing new radar on Spratly Islands that could greatly boost control of South China Sea: US think tank

Satellite images show China may be installing a high-frequency radar system in the Spratly Islands that could significantly boost its ability to control the disputed South China Sea, a US think tank said on Monday.

Military experts said the possible high-frequency radar system in the disputed area was capable of monitoring surface and air traffic from the Malacca Strait and other strategically important channels where US naval fleets usually appear and was aimed at collecting information about the US navy’s sea and air movements in the region.

China wants to monitor and study US naval activities in the South China Sea, which would make the Americans, who have sailed through the region for decades, “very uncomfortable”, said a Beijing-based naval expert, who requested anonymity.

The Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative at Washington’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies said the images showed that facilities being built on Cuarteron Reef, which China calls Huayang, were nearly complete and that the artificial island now covered an area of about 21 hectares.

“Two probable radar towers have been built on the northern portion of the feature and a number of 20-metre masts have been erected across a large section of the southern portion,” the report said, adding that these could be a high-frequency radar installation.

The report, based on analysis of satellite images from January and February, said China already had significant radar coverage of the northern part of the South China Sea, given its mainland installations and in the Paracel Islands to the northwest of the Spratlys.

READ MORE: China signals it will not back down over South China Sea deployments as foreign minister heads to US

It also pointed to “probable” radar systems on Gaven, Hughes and Johnson South Reefs in the Spratly as well as helipads and possible gun emplacements at the former two features.

China’s Ministry of Defence said the facilities China had established on the islands and reefs served civilian navigation and meteorological uses.

“At the same time, we have deployed necessary defensive facilities on the islands,” the ministry said, adding the facilities were “legal and appropriate”.

The Beijing-based naval expert said setting up the detection facilities main goal was to counter US naval domination in the strategic shipping channels in the region.

The advancement of China’s overall radar technologies has raised concerns over the capabilities of the Chinese military. Yin Zhuo, a former Chinese Navy officer and military expert, told China’s Central Television last week that the Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor, a fifth-generation stealth fighter jet designed for the US air force, couldn’t evade the country’s radar detection when it flew to the East China Sea.

However, Hong Kong-based military expert Liang Guoliang said that the capability of identifying a F-22 doesn’t mean China was also able to challenge the all-weather stealth tactical fighter aircraft.

“It’s not clear that Chinese radar identified the F-22 during the day or night and it’s questionable that Chinese aircraft can trace and push the F-22 out when it turned on its supersonic and subsonic speeds.”

READ MORE: US navy commander insists South China Sea is not a battle between superpowers while Beijing warns Washington not to ‘make a fuss’

The report comes a day before Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to the US, in which American concerns about China’s assertive territorial claims will be high on the agenda.

Additional reporting by Liu Zhen and Reuters