AP, Beijing :
China’s campaign of island building in the South China Sea might soon quadruple the number of airstrips available to the People’s Liberation Army in the highly contested and strategically vital region
That could be bad news for other regional contenders, especially the U.S., the Philippines and Vietnam.
The island construction work that is creating vast amounts of new acreage by piling sand on top of coral reefs is now moving into the construction stage, with buildings, harbors and, most importantly, runways appearing in recent months.
China now operates one airfield at Woody Island in the Paracel island chain, and satellite photos show what appears to be work on two, possibly three, additional airstrips on newly built islands in the Spratly archipelago to the east.
The bases could have a “significant impact on the local balance of power” by helping bolster the forward presence of Chinese coast guard and navy forces, said Euan Graham, director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia.
As with most South China Sea developments, China has remained opaque about its plans for the island airstrips. At a recent monthly briefing, Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian declined to say how many China planned to build or what their purpose would be, repeating only that all military infrastructure was “purely for defensive purposes.”
Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea and its islands and has created seven new features in the Spratlys since last year that are permanently above water totaling more than 800 hectares (2,000 acres) in area, according to satellite photos collected by U.S. government agencies and private groups including the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
While China insists its island building works are justified and don’t constitute a threat to stability, further militarization of the region seems assured given China’s increasingly robust assertions of its territorial claims.
Those perceptions were reinforced with the deployment in October of advanced J-11BH/BHS fighters of the navy air force to Woody Island that was revealed online in China in October. China’s military has declined to comment on the reports.
The island’s 2.4-kilometer (1.49-mile) long runway will soon be eclipsed by one more than 3 kilometers (10,000 feet) long on the reclaimed island built atop Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys, the satellite photos show. Another runway is being built on Subi Reef, with signs of similar work underway on nearby Mischief Reef.
Patrols by fighter jets based on the islands, most likely temporarily given the salty climate and frequent storms, could serve to intimidate other claimants, especially the Philippines and Vietnam. That could also complicate regular operations by U.S. forces which insist on freedom of navigation and overflight over the entire sea.
“In periods of tension, the intimidation value of air patrols from the islands would be considerable,” Graham said.
China’s campaign of island building in the South China Sea might soon quadruple the number of airstrips available to the People’s Liberation Army in the highly contested and strategically vital region
That could be bad news for other regional contenders, especially the U.S., the Philippines and Vietnam.
The island construction work that is creating vast amounts of new acreage by piling sand on top of coral reefs is now moving into the construction stage, with buildings, harbors and, most importantly, runways appearing in recent months.
China now operates one airfield at Woody Island in the Paracel island chain, and satellite photos show what appears to be work on two, possibly three, additional airstrips on newly built islands in the Spratly archipelago to the east.
The bases could have a “significant impact on the local balance of power” by helping bolster the forward presence of Chinese coast guard and navy forces, said Euan Graham, director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia.
As with most South China Sea developments, China has remained opaque about its plans for the island airstrips. At a recent monthly briefing, Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian declined to say how many China planned to build or what their purpose would be, repeating only that all military infrastructure was “purely for defensive purposes.”
Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea and its islands and has created seven new features in the Spratlys since last year that are permanently above water totaling more than 800 hectares (2,000 acres) in area, according to satellite photos collected by U.S. government agencies and private groups including the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
While China insists its island building works are justified and don’t constitute a threat to stability, further militarization of the region seems assured given China’s increasingly robust assertions of its territorial claims.
Those perceptions were reinforced with the deployment in October of advanced J-11BH/BHS fighters of the navy air force to Woody Island that was revealed online in China in October. China’s military has declined to comment on the reports.
The island’s 2.4-kilometer (1.49-mile) long runway will soon be eclipsed by one more than 3 kilometers (10,000 feet) long on the reclaimed island built atop Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys, the satellite photos show. Another runway is being built on Subi Reef, with signs of similar work underway on nearby Mischief Reef.
Patrols by fighter jets based on the islands, most likely temporarily given the salty climate and frequent storms, could serve to intimidate other claimants, especially the Philippines and Vietnam. That could also complicate regular operations by U.S. forces which insist on freedom of navigation and overflight over the entire sea.
“In periods of tension, the intimidation value of air patrols from the islands would be considerable,” Graham said.
