Beijing: For the first time, China has fired its “aircraft-carrier killer” missile into the South China Sea as part of the naval drills being carried out by the military in the disputed region amid aerial reconnaissance by US spy planes.

China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas. Beijing has also made substantial progress in militarising its man-made islands in the past few years, which it says it has the right to defend.

Beijing claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea. But Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims. In the East China Sea, China has territorial disputes with Japan. The South China Sea and the East China Sea are stated to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources. They are also vital to global trade.

China launched two missiles, including an “aircraft-carrier killer”, into the South China Sea (SCS) on August 27 morning, a day after US U-2 spy plane entered a no-fly zone during a Chinese live-fire naval drill in the Bohai Sea off its north coast, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

One of the missiles, a DF-26B, was launched from the north-western province of Qinghai, while the other, a DF-21D, (aircraft-carrier killer missile) lifted off from Zhejiang province in the east.

Both were fired into an area between Hainan province and the Paracel Islands, the Post quoted Chinese military sources as saying.

Asked for his comment on the missile launches at an online media briefing, Chinese Defence spokesman Sr. Col Wu Qian said China will not dance to the US tune or tolerate its reckless provocations.

Wu slammed the recent US provocations in the South China Sea, stressing China is not afraid of such actions, state-run CGTN TV reported.