Taiwan's airstrip in Spratly Islands ready for planes

Taiwan has renovated an airstrip and constructed a lighthouse on an island it administers in a disputed area of the South China Sea, government officials said.

A Taiwanese coastguard official said the runway overhaul on Taiping Island, which forms part of the Spratly Archipelago, was completed in September.

"Planes can now land and take off," the official said.

Observers have speculated that the airstrip has been improved to accommodate F-16 fighter aircraft and P-3C anti-submarine surveillance planes, but Taiwan's defence ministry spokesman Major General David Lo has said it was planned for flight safety and humanitarian tasks carried out by C-130 transport planes.

An official at the Taiwan Area National Expressway Engineering Bureau, which was awarded the runway reconstruction contract, said refurbishment of the 1,195-metre-long landing strip included expanding the hangar area to accommodate two C-130 planes.

Other improvements include a new runway surface, lighting, a storm sewer line, oil tanks and oil transmission pipelines.

The runway on Taiping is the third longest on islands in the South China Sea, according to an analysis released by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.