China has built seven new military bases in South China Sea, US navy commander says

Beijing. February 16. Silkroadnews - Speaking about China’s growing military power the commander of the Pacific Command of the United States Admiral Harry Harris said Beijing had unilaterally built seven new military bases in the South China Sea, South China Morning Post reports.
“China is attempting to assert de facto sovereignty over disputed maritime features by further militarising its man-made bases,” the agency quoted him saying in a congressional hearing.
Harris told the House Armed Services Committee that the new facilities include hangars for aircraft, barracks facilities, radar facilities, weapons emplacements and 10,000-foot runways.
Beijing disputes with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan its right to a part of the territories in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which more than a third of world trade passes.
Harris said, he considers Beijing’s territorial claims in the East and South China seas as “coordinated, methodical and strategic, using their military and economic power to erode the free and open international order.”