China has deployed 8 surface-to-air missiles on a contested island in the South China Sea

After President Obama's summit with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Taiwan's defense ministry confirmed that China deployed surface-to-air missiles to a disputed island in the South China Sea.

Satellite imagery from ImageSat International shows two batteries of eight surface-to-air missile launchers as well as a radar system on Woody Island, part of the Paracel Island chain in the South China Sea.

A US military official said the imagery viewed appears to show the HQ-9 air defense system, which has a range of 125 miles and would pose a threat to any airplanes, civilian or military, flying close by, Fox News reports.

Mira Rapp-Hooper, a South China Sea expert from of the Center for a New American Security, said it was not the first time that China has sent such weapons to the Paracels, under Chinese control since 1974.

"I do think surface to air missiles are a considerable development," she said. "If they have been deployed they are probably China's effort to signal a response to freedom-of navigation operations, but I don't think it is a totally unprecedented deployment."

Bill Urban, a Pentagon spokesman, said: "While I cannot comment on matters related to intelligence, we do watch these matters very closely."

Beijing's claims in the sea conflict with those of its regional neighbors Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Brunei.

The South China Sea is the passageway to more than half of the world's annual merchant fleet tonnage and a third of all maritime traffic worldwide, according to Robert D. Kaplan, chief geopolitical analyst for Stratfor and author of "Asia's Cauldron."

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year, and has been building runways and other infrastructure on artificial islands to bolster its claims.

A US Navy destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracel chain last month in a move the Pentagon said was aimed at countering efforts by China, Vietnam and Taiwan to limit freedom of navigation.

China condemned the US action as provocative.

The US has said it will continue conducting "freedom of navigation patrols" by ships and aircraft to assure unimpeded passage through the region.

(Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)