article_snippet.sent: The United States' military commander for Asia has said China could eventually deploy radar and missile systems on the outposts China is building in the region, which would give China the power to enforce an exclusion zone.
article_snippet.sent: China's ambassador to the United States has said it was 'natural' that China's ambassador to the United States country's reclamation work would include military defence facilities.
article_snippet.sent: Its actions in the South China Sea have been described as 'aggressive' by Senator John McCain, chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.
article_snippet.sent: U.S. President Barack Obama urged U.S. President Barack Obama's administration  to move more military resources into the economically important Asian region - and boost cooperation with Asian countries worried by China.
article_snippet.sent: McCain claims Washington has a lot of work ahead to maintain Washington military advantage in the Asia-Pacific.
article_snippet.sent: McCain added: 'When any nation fills in 600 acres of land and builds runways and most likely is putting in other kinds of military capabilities in what is international waters, it is clearly a threat to where the world's economy is going, has gone, and will remain for the foreseeable future.'
article_snippet.sent: A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the scale of China's land reclamation and construction is fueling concerns in the economically important Asian region - that China intends to militarise China outposts.
article_snippet.sent: A U.S. State Department spokesperson said: 'A U.S. State Department spokesperson do not believe that large-scale land reclamation with the intent to militarize outposts on disputed land features is consistent with the economically important Asian region -'s desire for peace and stability.'
article_snippet.sent: Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki said China had a duty to address regional concerns
article_snippet.sent: And Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yong stressed the importance of stability in the South China Sea for trading nations like Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki.
article_snippet.sent: Worrying: A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the scale of China's land reclamation in the South China Sea (pictured) is fueling concerns in the economically important Asian region - that China intends to militarise China outposts .
article_snippet.sent: China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said the construction was to serve troops protecting the area, civilian activity such as search and rescue operations, scientific research and commercial fishing.
article_snippet.sent: China claims the work is necessary to safeguard China sovereignty which the work asserts over most of the South China Sea.
highlights_snippet.sent: Follows other images of Chinese construction in disputed South China Sea .