Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Samuel Locklear, told Congress that China’s may be able to enforce a Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over South China Sea once reclamation works on islands it occupied there are completed.

By CIA. Cropped and Flags added by Estarapapax. (Central Intelligence Agency.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

“It allows them to exert basically greater influence over what’s now a contested area. Expanded land features down there also could eventually lead to the deployment of things such as long-range radars, military, and advanced missile systems,” he said.

Source: Alert 5