BEIJING — China will establish a military garrison on a group of disputed islands in the South China Sea, China’s defense ministry said July 23, a move likely to provoke further tensions with its neighbors.
The troops will operate from Sansha in the Paracel Islands, one of two archipelagos in the South China Sea that are claimed by both China and Vietnam.
The garrison, approved by the Central Military Commission, “will be responsible for the Sansha area national defence mobilisation and reserve forces activities,” the defence ministry said on its website.
The ministry did not say when the garrison would be established, but the move to station troops on the Paracels is likely to provoke Hanoi’s ire.
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