A Chinese sailor stands guard on the deck of the naval training ship Qi Jiguang during a naval parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of China’s PLA Navy in the sea near Qingdao in the eastern China’s Shandong province on April 23, 2019.
Mark Schiefelbein | AFP | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon this week slammed the continued Chinese militarization of the South China Sea on the heels of a CNBC and NBC News report that Beijing was conducting anti-ship ballistic missile tests in the disputed waters.
“Of course the Pentagon was aware of the Chinese missile launch from the man-made structures in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Eastburn wrote in an emailed statement in response to a CNBC and NBC News inquiry about the tests.
“What’s truly disturbing about this act is that it’s in direct contradiction to President Xi’s statement in the Rose Garden in 2015 when he pledged to the U.S., the Asia-Pacific region, and…
