The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on a support mission last year. Photo / Getty Images
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on a support mission last year. Photo / Getty Images
China's military has sent a clear warning to the United States over the South China Sea standoff.
A source close to the Chinese military comfirmed two missiles were fired, including a banned "aircraft-carrier killer", into the South China Sea on Wednesday morning, the South China Morning Post reported.
The move came a day after China said a US Airforce U-2 spy plane entered a no-fly zone without permission during a Chinese live-fire naval drill in the Bohai Sea off its north coast.
A DF-26B missile was launched from the northwestern province of Qinghai, while the other, a DF-21D, lifted off from Zhejiang province in the east.
Military vehicles carrying DF-26 ballistic missiles drive past the Tiananmen Gate during a military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in 2015. Photo / Getty Images
Both were fired into an area between Hainan province and the Paracel Islands, the source said.
The landing areas were within a zone where military exercises were taking place.
The DF-26 dual-capable missile is a type of weapon banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty treaty signed by the US and Soviet Union towards the end of the Cold War.
When the US withdrew from the treaty last year, it cited China's deployment of such weapons as justification.
The DF-26 has a range of 4000km and can be used in nuclear or conventional strikes.
The DF-21 has a range of around 1800km, with state media describing the most advanced in the series, the DF-21D, as the world's first anti-ship ballistic missile.
The source told the SCMP the missile launch was aimed at improving China's ability to deny other forces access to the South China Sea, a disputed region.
"This is China's response to the potential risks brought by the increasingly frequent incoming US warplanes and military vessels in the South China Sea," the source said.
"China doesn't want the neighbouring countries to misunderstand Beijing's goals."
Song Zhongping, a Hong Kong-based military commentator, said the missile launches were clearly meant to send a signal to the United States.
"The US continues to test China's bottom line in Taiwan and South China Sea issues, and this pushed China to showcase its military strength to let Washington know that even US aircraft carriers cannot flex their full muscle near China's coast," Song said.
In a rare move, the People's Liberation Army is conducting drills almost simultaneously in four sea regions.
Earlier this month, the PLA also held exercises near Taiwan "to safeguard national sovereignty", exercises that coincided with US Health Secretary Alex Azar's trip to the island.
China's DF-21D are missiles are displayed at the military parade in 2015. Photo / Getty Images
In July, the PLA conducted military exercises in the South China, East China and Yellow seas, as two US aircraft carriers conducted tactical air defence exercises in the South China Sea – manoeuvres the US said were "in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific".
