Satellite images captured on Monday show Chinese military installments being placed on a crucial islet in the contested waterway. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has previously called China's island building in the South China Sea "illegal." The People's Liberation Army of China has a naval base on Hainan Island, and since March, several missile launchers have been placed at the base, according to a Defense News report. "The direction in which the launchers are facing leads us to believe these are shore-to-ship missiles," imagery analyst Amit Gur told the news outlet, adding that the missile systems are now "clearly visible." What is less clear is whether the missile systems were just brought out from storage at the Yulin Naval Base or delivered as brand new systems. "We just don't know if they are new systems," or "the ones that were stored during the renovation," Gur noted. The missile systems can serve as an avenue for Beijing and the PLA to project power far away, the analyst