China
Expands Island Construction in Disputed South China Sea
Construction of artificial
islands shows Beijing isn’t backing off its territorial ambitions
of
Satellite images show a dramatic expansion of Chinese outposts
in the South China Sea. Here, a structure at Gaven Reefs is seen at left ...
A satellite image of Gaven Reefs shows a Chinese-built structure
nearly a year ago. IHS JANE'S
A more-recent image from August shows China’s progress on
additional construction projects at Gaven Reefs. IHS
JANE'S
An image from January shows China’s artificial island at Gaven
Reefs linked by a causeway to the original installation. IHS
JANE'S
Another Chinese outpost at Johnson South Reef is seen from a
satellite in February 2006. The reef was the site of a skirmish in 1988 between
Vietnamese and Chinese forces. The Chinese, who won control of the reef, have
had a tiny outpost here for years. GOOGLE
The Johnson South Reef in June last year. GOOGLE
The original outpost at Johnson South Reef, seen here in
January, has been incorporated into an artificial island including a helipad
and a cement plant. IHS JANE'S
The original Chinese installation at Hughes Reef, seen here in 2004,
covered an area of 380 square meters. It has since been expanded into an
artificial island covering some 75,000 square meters. GOOGLE
Construction expands on Hughes Reef in August.
IHS JANE'S
IHS JANE'S
Hughes Reef in January this year. IHS
JANE'S
Fiery Cross Reef had only a small installation until last year.
It is seen here in July, before construction expanded dramatically. GOOGLE
Satellite images show a frigate and other structures at Fiery
Cross Reef in August. IHS JANE'S
Now, Fiery Cross Reef has been transformed into an artificial
island at least 3,000 yards long that experts say is big enough to include an
airstrip and could become a Chinese command and control center for military
operations in the area. Seen here in November. IHS
JANE'S
By
JEREMY PAGE in Beijing and
JULIAN E. BARNES in Washington
Updated Feb. 18, 2015 7:33 p.m. ET
BEIJING—Newly released satellite images show a dramatic
expansion in China’s construction of artificial islands on disputed South China
Sea reefs, intensifying concerns about Beijing’s territorial ambitions.
The images provide the first visual evidence that China
has built an artificial island covering 75,000 square yards—about 14 football
fields—and including two piers, a cement plant and a helipad, at a land
formation called Hughes Reef, according to experts who have studied the pictures.
The reef, which is above water only at low tide, lies about 210 miles from the
Philippines and 660 miles from China.
The pictures, taken by a commercial satellite division of
Airbus Group and released by IHS Jane’s, a defense intelligence provider, also
show that China has made significant progress in building similar
infrastructure in two other places, Johnson South Reef and Gaven Reefs, where
Beijing’s territorial claims overlap with those of its neighbors.
‘We can see that this is a methodical, well-planned
campaign to create a chain of air- and sea-capable fortresses across the center
of the Spratly Islands chain.’
China appears to be building a network of island
fortresses to help enforce control of most of the South China Sea—one of the
world’s busiest shipping routes—and potentially of the airspace above,
according to experts who have studied the images.
The pace and scale of its South China
Sea buildup shows that Beijing, despite having recently reined in its
rhetoric and avoided confrontations at sea and in the air, hasn’t
tempered its ambitions to project power in the region.
“The Chinese have built up a head of steam on the land
reclamation in the South China Sea over the course of 2014; if anything, it
looks to be accelerating,” said a senior U.S. official, who described the
extent of China’s reclamation work as “unprecedented.”
Historical images from Google Earth and others reveal that work
at all four reefs began after President Xi Jinping took
power in 2012. Construction at two of the sites began in the past year, despite
protests from neighboring countries, warming military ties with Washington, and
a new Chinese drive to improve relations in its periphery.
U.S. officials say they have repeatedly asked China to
stop the work, to no avail. Daniel Russel, Assistant Secretary of State for
East Asian and Pacific Affairs, conveyed U.S. concerns about the issue on a
visit to Beijing this month, according to people familiar with the matter.
‘The sheer acreage of China’s reclamation
work over the past two to three years dwarfs anything and everything other
claimants have done by many times over.’
In an interview, Mr. Russel declined to discuss the
specifics of his talks in Beijing, but said that the U.S. hoped China would
stop the reclamation work.
“It is destabilizing and is at odds with the commitments
the Chinese made” to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or
Asean, he said.
ENLARGE
China signed a
nonbinding agreement with Asean committing to avoid provocative activities in
the South China Sea, such as inhabiting previously deserted islands and reefs.
“The sheer acreage of China’s reclamation work over the
past two to three years dwarfs anything and everything other claimants have
done by many times over,” Mr. Russel said.
China’s foreign ministry declined to comment on the
satellite images, but referred to earlier statements that Beijing has
sovereignty in the areas where the construction is taking place and that the
work is designed to improve the lives of personnel working there.
The reefs in the latest images are part of the Spratly
Islands, a cluster of islets, rocks and reefs lying within the so-called
nine-dash line by which Beijing delineates its claim to almost all of the South
China Sea.
China’s claims overlap with those of
Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philippines—a U.S. treaty ally—and
many of them have been bolstering
defense ties with the U.S. in recent years in response to what
they see as Beijing’s enhanced efforts to assert its claims.
Other claimants, notably Vietnam, have built
infrastructure on islands and reefs they control, but on a much smaller scale,
according to U.S. officials and regional experts.
The Philippine government has been
especially vocal in protesting Chinese construction in
contested areas, most recently lodging a formal complaint this month over
reclamation it says China is conducting at another site in the Spratlys called
Mischief Reef. Philippine officials declined to comment on the new images, and
Vietnamese authorities weren’t immediately available to comment.
Many experts and U.S. officials say the Chinese
infrastructure is explicitly military in nature, whereas some of its other
recent efforts to assert territorial claims have been carried out by its coast
guard and fisheries administration.
“Where it used to have a few small concrete platforms, it
now has full islands with helipads, airstrips, harbors and facilities to
support large numbers of troops,” said James Hardy, Asia Pacific Editor of IHS
Jane’s Defence Weekly, a publication specializing in military affairs.
Such infrastructure, he said, allows China to enforce the
nine-dash line more forcefully. He said China was reclaiming land in at least
one other reef in the area, but satellite imagery wasn’t publicly available.
“We can see that this is a methodical, well-planned
campaign to create a chain of air and sea capable fortresses across the center
of the Spratly Islands chain,” he said.
Some U.S. and regional officials have suggested that
China could use the new infrastructure to help enforce an Air Defense
Identification Zone similar to the one it established in late 2013 over much of
the East China Sea, where its territorial claims overlap with Japan’s. China
has said it would establish more air-defense zones but doesn’t have imminent
plans to establish one over the South China Sea.
Images published by Jane’s in November show Chinese work
in a fourth disputed area, Fiery Cross Reef, which experts including military
analysts and academics say is extensive enough to eventually include an
airstrip.
Chinese aircraft can patrol the East China Sea with
relative ease from bases in eastern China, but can’t operate effectively over
the Spratlys and other far-flung parts of the South China Sea without refueling
and ground support.
The facilities at Fiery Cross Reef could be suitable for
that eventually, according to some experts. One possibility is that China would
use an airstrip there as a backup for future operations by its first aircraft
carrier, which it launched in 2011 and has sent on training operations in the
South China Sea.
In the near term, the infrastructure will likely be used
more to enhance radar coverage of the area, support a small presence of
military personnel, and provide logistics support for ships patrolling the farther
reaches of the South China Sea, according to several experts.
The facilities will likely be used to “enforce China’s
territorial and jurisdictional claims, and bring pressure to bear on warships
and coast guard vessels from the other claimants,” said Ian Storey, an expert
on the South China Sea at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in
Singapore.
“It shows that despite recent accommodating rhetoric from
Beijing that it seeks to cool tensions in the South China Sea, its policy to
assert dominance within the so-called nine-dash line remains fundamentally
unchanged.”
He and other experts, as well as U.S. officials, said
that China’s activities wouldn’t bolster its legal claims in the South China
Sea under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, as only naturally-formed
land features allow a country to claim maritime rights in surrounding waters.
A U.N. tribunal is currently hearing a case brought
by the Philippines against China over its claims in the South
China Sea. However, China is widely expected to ignore the tribunal’s verdict
and the U.S. and its allies and partners have few options to prevent Beijing
from continuing with its reclamation and construction work.
“The U.S. and its allies and partners can only make
declaratory protests that China should halt its activities and exercise
self-restraint. China will ignore these protests,” said Carlyle Thayer, an expert
on the South China Sea at the Australian Defence Force Academy. “The use of
U.S. naval warships would be an escalation and carry risks.”
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