China Had Fired Two Missiles In South China Sea Just Before US Imposed Visa Ban On Its Govt Members

Just before the United States (US) imposed a visa ban on Chinese government members in response to the militarisation of the South China Sea, Beijing had fired two missiles, including an ‘aircraft-carrier killer’, into the disputed sea.

As per a South China Morning Post (SCMP) report, China fired one intermediate-range ballistic missile, DF-26B, from Qinghai province and another medium-range ballistic missile, DF-21D, from Zhejiang on Wednesday into the sea, provoking the US to take an unprecedented action against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and their businesses.

The DF-26B missile is capable of smashing moving targets at the sea, according to the Global Times, the mouthpiece of the CCP.

The missile’s destruction capabilities have given it the name ‘aircraft-carrier killer’.

The missile has a range of 4,500 km, which effectively means that it can reach the West Pacific and the Indian Ocean, as well as American facilities in Guam, the British island of Diego Garcia and even the Australian city of Darwin.

The DF-21 is also an anti-ship ballistic missile system, meant for destroying moving ships at sea.

In a statement issued by the State Department on Wednesday (26 August), Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that from 26 August it has begun "imposing visa restrictions on People's Republic of China (PRC) individuals responsible for, or complicit in, either the large-scale reclamation, construction, or militarisation of disputed outposts in the South China Sea, or the PRC's use of coercion against Southeast Asian claimants to inhibit their access to offshore resources".

The CCP justified the firing of the two missiles in the area between Hainan province and the disputed Paracel Islands, by arguing that it was in response to the US U-2 spy plane flying in the Chinese-designated “no-fly zone” on Tuesday when China was conducting a live-fire naval drill conducted in the Bohai Sea off its north coast.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has persistently disputed China’s sovereignty over the South China Sea, which serves as a lifeline to all the Asian countries.

The relationship between the two countries countries has deteriorated to a historic low since China attempted to initially cover up the coronavirus pandemic which originated in its Wuhan city, Hubei province, from where it spread to the whole world.

(With inputs from IANS)