A Chinese fighter jet has been spotted on a Chinese-controlled island in the South China Sea for the first time in a year, a U.S. think tank said Thursday as President Donald Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), part of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the J-11 fighter jet was visible on a runway in a satellite photo taken March 29 of Woody Island in the disputed waterway's Paracel chain. More fighters were believed to be in hangers nearby.
"This is the first time we (or any other outlet, to the best of our knowledge) have seen fighter jets on Woody Island in nearly a year — there was a deployment in April 2016, but we had not seen any since," said Conor Cronin, a research associate with the AMTI. "We think it's likely, but cannot say for certain, that there are other J-11s in the hangars nearby."