What China has been doing in the South China Sea - TomoNews

• Report rights infringement
• published: 07 Mar 2016
• views: 669

SOUTH CHINA SEA — The South China Sea has been a source of much tension among countries with competing territorial claims to portions of the region, and China's rapid expansion in recent years has only made things worse. According to the Washington Post, about a third of the world's shipping lines pass through the South China Sea annually. The area is abundant with oil, natural gas, marine life and other resources — and no less than six countries are claiming land there as their own. Invoking geographical proximity, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan all claim all or part of the disputed islands in the area. China claims the entire South China Sea as its territory. In 2014, its nine-dash line was updated to a 10-dash-line, now including Taiwan. According to a report compiled for the U.S. Congress, China began dredging in the South China Sea in 2013, moving sediment from the seafloor to submerged reefs to create artificial islands. By 2015, there were seven new islets: Mischief, Subi, Fiery Cross, Gaven, Hughs, Cuarteron, and Johnson South Reefs. Shortly afterwards, China built docks, lighthouses, bunkers, helipads, communication towers and other infrastructure on the islands. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative reports that in September 2015, a three-kilometer runway was completed on Fiery Cross Reef, with three civilian test flights successfully landing by January. Airstrips are nearing completion at both Subi and Mischief Reefs. Radar facilities on the smaller islets — Cuarteron, Gaven, Hughs and Johnson South — allow China to monitor surface and air traffic more significantly. On Woody Island in the Paracels, Beijing recently deployed two batteries of HQ-9 surface to air missiles and fighter aircraft. The expansion has both environmental and political ramifications. In forming the new islands, marine ecosystems were damaged and possibly destroyed. According to the Guardian, they were either outright buried or killed by corrosive sand and sediment from the dredging process. Rapid militarization of the area also has tensions running high in the region. The United States, not recognizing China's ownership of the islands, sent missile destroyers near the islands last year as a show of force. ----------------------------------------­--------------------- Welcome to TomoNews, where we animate the most entertaining news on the internets. Come here for an animated look at viral headlines, US news, celebrity gossip, salacious scandals, dumb criminals and much more! Subscribe now for daily news animations that will knock your socks off. Visit our official website for all the latest, uncensored videos: http://us.tomonews.net Check out our Android app: http://bit.ly/1rddhCj Check out our iOS app: http://bit.ly/1gO3z1f Get top stories delivered to your inbox everyday: http://bit.ly/tomo-newsletter Stay connected with us here: Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TomoNewsUS Twitter @tomonewsus http://www.twitter.com/TomoNewsUS Google+ http://plus.google.com/+TomoNewsUS/ Instagram @tomonewsus http://instagram.com/tomonewsus