"This is an attempt by certain Western media to
create new stories," Wang Yi told reporters through an interpreter in
Beijing on Wednesday (local time).
He said the media should instead focus on Chinese-built lighthouses on the islands ensuring naval safety.
Earlier Taiwan defence ministry spokesman Major
General David Lo told Reuters the missile batteries had been set up on
Woody Island. The island is part of the Paracels chain, under Chinese
control for more than 40 years but also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.
"Interested parties should work together to maintain
peace and stability in the South China Sea region and refrain from
taking any unilateral measures that would increase tensions," Lo said on
Wednesday.
A US defence official also confirmed the "apparent deployment" of the missiles, first reported by Fox News.
company ImageSat International show two batteries of eight
surface-to-air missile launchers as well as a radar system, according to
Fox News.
Fox News
News of the missile deployment came as Obama and
leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations concluded a summit
in California, where they discussed the need to ease tensions in the
region but did not include specific mention of China's assertive pursuit
of its claims in the South China Sea.
China
claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $US5
trillion ($A7 trillion) in global trade passes every year, and has been
building runways and other infrastructure on artificial islands to
bolster its claims.
"We discussed the need for
tangible steps in the South China Sea to lower tensions including a halt
to further reclamation, new construction and militarisation of disputed
areas," Obama told a news conference.
The US has
said it will continue conducting "freedom of navigation patrols" by
ships and aircraft to assure unimpeded passage through the region, where
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival
claims.
AAP
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