Some land reclamation on Spratlys complete, China says
China has completed some of its land reclamation on the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday, raising the stakes in the mainland's territorial dispute with its Asian neighbours.
Beijing stepped up its creation of artificial islands last year, alarming several countries in Asia and drawing criticism from Washington.
The United States, which has called for a halt in China's island building, said earlier this month that it was concerned about Beijing's plans for more construction work, including for military defence.
Hua Chunying, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, said the land reclamation projects on some islands and reefs in the South China Sea had been completed "in recent days".
China has been working on land reclamation projects on seven reefs among the tiny islets at the centre of the maritime territorial dispute involving the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.
Recent satellite images have shown a hive of work on China's new islands.
US officials have said China has reclaimed 607 hectares of land this year alone.
Hua did not say where reclamation had been completed.
"As for the next step, China will begin fulfilling the relevant functions of the facilities," she said. "The construction is mainly to provide services to meet civilian demands so as to better facilitate China's efforts at maritime search and rescue, disaster prevention and reduction, maritime research, meteorological observation, environmental protection, safety of navigation, fishery services and so on, in keeping with [our] international responsibilities and obligations."
She added: "Certainly, our relevant construction will also include satisfying the necessary military defence needs."
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which US$5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.
Military facilities under construction include a 3km runway and airborne early warning radars, which could be operational by the end of the year, according to one US commander.
