Military tension between Washington and Beijing is surging after China launched missiles capable of hitting US warships and military bases into the disputed South China Sea.
The People’s Liberation Army on Wednesday “fired four medium-range missiles into [an] area between Hainan and the Paracel Islands,” said a US military official on Thursday. Another US military official said the launch included a Dongfeng-21D, an anti-ship missile built to threaten US aircraft carriers, and several Dongfeng-26B medium-range missiles, known as the “Guam express” because they can reach air force and naval bases in the US Pacific territory.
China’s defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.