Report: China installs anti-aircraft weapons on artificial islands in South China Sea

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.

Images from Fiery Cross Reef showed towers that likely contained targeting radar, it added.

China’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on its microblog on Thursday that it was “legitimate and lawful” for it to place defensive military installations on islands where it said Beijing had “indisputable sovereignty.”