A senior US State Department official yesterday disputed China’s claims that the airstrips built on its artificial islands of the South China Sea were meant for flights for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. “The runways they’ve built are designed to accommodate strategic bombers, not cargo planes for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” Willet told a group of journalists in a teleconference from the US embassy in Manila. While it is true that other claimant countries have deployed military personnel and weapons on their outposts, Willet said, these are small compared to what China has been doing for the last two years.

Laude, J., Flores, H., Sapnu, R., & Ronda, R. A. (2016, March 30). China's airfields on Spratlys meant for fighter jets - US. The Philippine Star, p. 2.