Shocking Reason Why China Is Building Islands In South China Sea
Channel: Anthony Nisperos
Date: 2019-08-17

So you want your own private island? China certainly does. It has been building manmade bases over some of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea since 2014, much to the annoyance of other powers in the region—the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Japan all lay claim to parts of the sea, which is a valuable trade passage and fishing ground. On Monday the Center for Strategic and International Studies(CSIS) confirmed the completion of another Chinese man-made island, China's Fiery Cross Island, and the new land is now ready for use as a military base.

The U.S. estimates China has added 3,200 acres of land on seven features(which includes rocky outcrops and reefs) over the past three years, although China denies it is militarizing the islands it has built. Last week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that the defense equipment on the islands was there to maintain "freedom of navigation". Fiery Cross reef, once merely a mass of rocks and a coral reef, now has a runway and several other buildings, including basketball courts and a running track. The island joins several other military bases in the South China Sea, adding extra aerial capacity to existing naval resources and mobile missile launchers.

"Beijing can now deploy military assets, including combat aircraft and mobile missile launchers to the Spratly Islands at any time," said the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) on Monday in a report that included images of the three man-made islands—Fiery Cross reef, Subi, and Mischief. Its director Greg Poling told Voice of America that new antennas had been spotted on Subi and Fiery Cross, so he expected deployments there soon.