Voice of America:
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Chinese missile deployment in the South China Sea is meant as a challenge to the United States and its allies, scholars believe.
Anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles that China reportedly installed on islets in the sea off its south coast would discourage passage of naval vessels from the United States or its allies such as Australia and Japan, analysts say. Vietnam, which claims parts of the sea occupied by China, has officially protested to Beijing.
China deployed the missiles in the sea’s Spratly Islands for military exercises in early April, according to a recent report by CNBC quoting “sources with direct knowledge of U.S. intelligence reports.”
