As tensions ease, China keeps building on disputed islands
South China Sea given less coverage amid North Korea nuclear weapons row, but China is quietly building up its presence in the disputed waters during lull, say researchers
Tensions over China’s island building in the South China Sea may have eased in the past year, but Beijing has kept busy.
New satellite imagery shows China has built infrastructure covering 28 hectares in the Spratly and Paracel Islands during 2017 to equip its larger outposts to be air and naval bases.
The Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative closely tracks developments in the South China Sea where China and several Asian governments have conflicting territorial claims. It said on Thursday there has been construction of hangars, underground storage, missile shelters, radar arrays and other facilities.
The activity comes as China joins what are likely to be protracted negotiations with Southeast Asian nations on a “code of conduct” for the South China Sea. Tensions with the US on the issue have also eased, despite Washington’s criticism of Beijing’s conduct.
The construction is the follow-up phase to a campaign of land reclamation that was completed by early 2016 in the Spratlys, an island chain where Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei also have claims. According to the Pentagon, China has added more than 1,248 hectares of land to the seven land features it occupies in the area.
China also seems to have halted smaller-scale operations to expand islands in the Paracels that lie farther north, the initiative said.