Militarization does not help South China Sea resolution — US

WASHINGTON - The militarization of facilities in the South China Sea does not help efforts to resolve maritime claims there, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said before he was to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday.

The United States is "encouraging the peaceful resolution of competing maritime claims in the South China Sea - a goal that is definitely not helped by the militarization of facilities in that region," Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

On Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry struck a combative tone ahead of Wang's visit by saying China's South China Sea military deployments are no different from U.S. deployments on Hawaii.

The United States last week accused China of raising tensions in the South China Sea by its apparent deployment of surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island, a move China has neither confirmed nor denied.

Asked whether the South China Sea and the missiles would come up when Wang meets Kerry, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Washington should not use the issue of military facilities on the islands as a "pretext to make a fuss."

"The U.S. is not involved in the South China Sea dispute, and this is not and should not become a problem between China and the United States," the spokeswoman told reporters on Monday.

Kerry and Wang are due to meet at 2 p.m. (1900 GMT). Reuters

Meanwhile,the head of the U.S. Pacific Command said on Tuesday that China's deployment of missiles and radars and its building of runways on reefs in the South China Sea was "changing the operational landscape" there.

Admiral Harry Harris was speaking at a hearing at the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.

China was "clearly militarizing the South China (Sea)," Admiral Harry Harris told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, adding: "You'd have to believe in a flat earth to think otherwise."

Speaking ahead of a meeting in Washington between China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Harris said China was continuing to escalate the situation in the South China Sea with new deployments.

"I think China's SSMs - surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island ... Its new radars on Cuarteron Reef ... The 10,000-foot runway on Subi Reef ... and on Fiery Cross Reef and other places; these are actions that are changing in my opinion the operational landscape in the South China Sea," he said.

Responding to a question, Harris said Chinese DF-21 and DF-26 anti-ship missiles could pose a threat to U.S. aircraft carriers, but said the vessels were resilient and that the United States had "the capability to do what has to be done if it comes to that."

A U.S. think tank reported on Monday that China may be installing a high-frequency radar system on the Cuarteron Reef in the Spratly Islands that could significantly boost its ability to control the disputed South China Sea.

The Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies cited recent satellite images and also pointed to "probable" radars at Gaven, Hughes and Johnson South Reefs in the Spratlys as well as helipads and possible gun emplacements.

On Thursday, the United States accused China of raising tensions in the area by its apparent deployment of surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island in the Paracel island chain. — Reuters