Fiery cross

How China is transforming the South China Sea Full Documentary

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• published: 13 Sep 2016
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How China is transforming the South China Sea New images reveal the extent of China's land reclamation and construction in the South China Sea. Experts warn the new developments will make it increasingly difficult to counter Beijing's regional claims. On February 4, the Philippines filed a diplomatic protest to the Chinese Embassy in Manila, urging Beijing to stop the land reclamation at the Mischief Reef. Manila argued that the dredging activities at the reef - located some 135 kilometers southeast of the Philippine island of Palawan - were in violation of its exclusive economic zone. But no photographs of the construction at the reef had been made publicly available until now. Surveillance imagery obtained by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank, now shows the size and scope of China's building and land reclamation projects in the Spratly Islands, a highly contested area in the South China Sea. The photographs, released on February 18, focus on six reefs claimed by China in the area - the Gaven Reef, Johnson South Reef, Fiery Cross Reef, Mischief Reef, Cuarteron Reef, Hughes reef - and reveal that the development of these features has taken place at a much larger scale and faster rate than expected, according to analysts. Regional tensions: Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, rejecting rival claims from Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei and triggering territorial disputes. Last summer, China's deployment of an oil rig in waters also claimed by Hanoi escalated tensions in the region, sparking violent anti-Chinese demonstrations in Vietnam, among other things. So far, the other claimants, especially Manila and Hanoi, have taken a strong line that such work violates the spirit of their 2002 Declaration of Conduct for Parties in the South China Sea. The Philippines, for instance, has protested China's actions, saying the artificially created land could be used to build an airstrip or an offshore military base in the increasingly volatile region. Manila also filed a formal plea to the United Nations last year, challenging Beijing's territorial claims. But while the court takes time to decide, construction on the reefs goes on, with Beijing seemingly trying to change facts on the ground to make it more difficult, if not impossible, for the court to decide what the original status of these features - islands, rocks, or low tide elevations - may have been. A clear example of this strategy can be found at the Johnson South Reef. Until early 2014, the only manmade feature at the reef was a small concrete platform that housed a communications facility, garrison building, and pier, according to James Hardy and Sean O'Connor, analysts at IHS Jane's Defence Weekly. But the platform has now been surrounded by an island that is approximately 400 meters across at its widest points and has an area of about 100,000 square meters. Military facilities? There has even been speculation that Beijing may build an airstrip on the reef, though some experts argue it would be too small to have a strategic impact. An airstrip also seems to be under construction on Fiery Cross Reef (main picture), the area of which has been increased eleven times in the past few months, growing from .08 square kilometers to .96 kilometers, according to CSIS. Experts posit that the reef could eventually become a military base twice the size of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, allowing it to serve as command-and-control center for the Chinese Navy. The US think tank also reports that a new building on Gaven Reef, which is almost identical to one on Hughes Reef, includes a main square building with what appears to be an anti-aircraft tower. China's construction and reclamation work in the Spratlys is not new. Beijing began engaging in such work at Mischief Reef not long after occupying it in 1995. And when the country entered the Spratlys in the 1980, there was nothing left to occupy but low-tide elevations and submerged reefs with a couple of dry rocks.