July 2, 2015 6:45 am
China is racing ahead with construction projects on reclaimed land in the South China Sea, satellite images show, with an airstrip capable of handling combat jets among projects now close to completion.
The building of the 3km runway on Fiery Cross Reef is a step some analysts say may presage an attempt to claim the airspace over the disputed waters.
A year and a half ago the reef in the Spratly Islands was a mere lump of coral but it is now a small island, following a concerted effort by high-tech dredging barges.
Meanwhile, a port has been added to facilities at Johnson South Reef, another reclaimed island in the Spratlys, with up to six security and surveillance towers under construction.
Fiery Cross and Johnson South are among just over half a dozen submerged rocks and coral atolls that China has dredged into islands in the past 18 months, an effort Harry Harris, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, likened in April to “a great wall of sand”.
China insists the facilities it is building on the islands are for peaceful purposes but western analysts say there is clear evidence China plans to use them as military bases in an effort to back its hegemonic maritime claims in the South China Sea. China claims sovereignty over 90 per cent of the Sea.
US officials say they believe the airstrip on Fiery Cross Reef could eventually base fighter jets that could enforce an Air Defence Identification Zone over the South China Sea, if China were to claim one. China claimed such an ADIZ over the East China Sea in November 2013, provoking a diplomatic confrontation with the US and Japan.
The latest photographs of the airstrip were taken by DigitalGlobe, a satellite imagery company, and published by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
AMTI said the airstrip was being paved and marked, while an apron and taxiway had been added adjacent to the runway. Two helipads, up to 10 satellite communications antennas and one possible radar tower were visible on Fiery Cross Reef, it said.
Last month China’s foreign ministry said it was nearing completion of some features in the South China Sea, an apparent effort to mollify criticism of its building works. However, the statement appeared to leave open the possibility that work would start or continue on other features.
“Basically what they are saying is that they are nearing the end of this phase, and they’ll start the next phase whenever they want,” said one western diplomat in Beijing.