This file photo taken on July 17, 2012 and released by the Philippine military’s Western Command shows Chinese fishing vessels anchored at Fiery Cross Reef (Kagitingan) on the disputed Spratly islands. — AFP photo
WASHINGTON: China is building a massive island in the South China Sea that could host an airfield in an area where Beijing is locked in bitter territorial disputes with neighbouring states, a US military spokesman said yesterday.
The vast land reclamation project on the Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands is one of several pursued by China but the first that could accommodate an airstrip, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Pool said.
“It appears that’s what they’re working toward,” Pool told AFP.
A harbour also has been dug out on the east side of the reef that appears large enough for tankers and naval warships.
The United States wants China to halt the project and for other governments to cease similar efforts.
“We urge China to stop its land reclamation program, and engage in diplomatic initiatives to encourage all sides to restrain themselves in these sorts of activities,” Pool said.
In the past three months, China has used dredgers to construct an island about 3,000 metres long and 200-300 metres wide on the reef, which was previously under water, according to a report by IHS Jane’s Defence. The island is “large enough to construct a runway and apron”, the report noted.
Dredgers were also creating a harbour to the east of the reef “that would appear to be large enough to receive tankers and major surface combatants,” it said.
The results of the dredging are captured in satellite pictures obtained by IHS Jane’s that cover a period between Aug 8 and Nov 14.
“The land reclamation at Fiery Cross is the fourth such project undertaken by China in the Spratly Islands in the last 12-18 months and by far the largest in scope,” the report said.
It said Fiery Cross Reef was home to a Chinese garrison and had a pier, air-defense guns, anti-frogmen defenses, communications equipment, and a greenhouse.
Before the latest dredging work, the Chinese navy had used a concrete platform and no artificial island had been created.
China already has built islands at Johnson South Reef, Cuarteron Reef and Gaven Reefs.
Beijing claims nearly all of the resource-rich South China Sea, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have asserted their own claims by building structures on reefs or occupying islands.
The other Southeast Asian countries already had airfields in the area and China’s latest efforts could put it in a stronger position as Beijing pursues its claims.
IHS Jane’s said the move appeared aimed to get other countries to relinquish their claims, or provide China a stronger negotiating position should talks take place over the dispute. Asked about the report at a defence forum in Beijing yesterday, Jin Zhirui, a colonel with the Chinese air force command, declined to confirm it but said China needed to build facilities in the South China Sea for strategic reasons.
“We need to go out, to make our contribution to regional and global peace,” Jin said. “We need support like this, including radar and intelligence.” The United States has urged China and other states to settle the territorial disputes peacefully and without coercion while urging Beijing to support a regional, multilateral maritime ‘code of conduct’ to defuse confrontations at sea. — Agencies