Tag Archives: Artificial Islands

US should stay out of S.China Sea land reclamation issue: PLA general

“Stay out of it.” That appears to be the message of a general of China’s People’s Liberation Army, following reports the US urged China to halt land reclamation activities in the South China Sea. PLA Major General Luo Yuan told the Global Times that as China is constructing infrastructure on the reef, mainly to improve […]

US asks China to stop building Spratlys island which could host airfield

The United States has urged Beijing to stop its reclamation projects in the South China Sea, as a report provided more details on a massive island being built in the disputed waters. According to a report by IHS Jane’s Defence, China had over the past three months used dredgers to build an island about 3,000 […]

China building South China Sea island big enough for airstrip – report

WASHINGTON – Satellite images show China is building an island on a reef in the disputed Spratly Islands large enough to accommodate what could be its first offshore airstrip in the South China Sea, a leading defense publication said on Friday. The construction has stoked concern that China may be converting disputed territory in the […]

China building possible airfield in South China Sea: US

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 on Friday (Nov 21). The vast land reclamation project on the Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands is […]

Points of Control: China’s Weiqi Strategy in the South China Sea

What is the core of Chinese strategy in the South China Sea dispute? The Western eye is particularly ill trained to see through Beijing’s strategic moves. It tends to view the game nations play in terms of chess, but as keen observers of Chinese strategy such as Henry Kissinger and David Lai have noted, China […]

Large-Scale South China Sea Reclamation Projects Raise Questions Under International Law

The international media has reported that China is undertaking large-scale South China Sea reclamation works on several of the seven reefs it occupies in the Spratly Islands. The 2002 Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea states that the parties undertake to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that […]

No more Chinese ‘restraint’ in South China Sea under Xi: expert

Taipei, Nov. 14 (CNA) Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China no longer adopts a “strategy of restraint” in South China Sea disputes, a Taiwan-based expert said Friday. Lin Cheng-yi, a researcher with Academic Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, said at a Taipei seminar on the wrestling in the East and South […]

Vietnam Premier Calls for South China Sea Restraint

Vietnam’s premier called on countries not to alter rocks and shoals in the South China Sea and warned that improperly-handled disputes with China risk damaging bilateral relations between the two nations. Countries should refrain from “actions that would complicate the situation and change the status quo of rocks and shoals,” in the South China Sea, […]

OP-ED: China’s island-building a bigger threat than oil rig

Without causing much of a stir, China has been quietly dumping sand onto reefs and rocks in waters claimed by Vietnam. In addition to altering the geography of the Spratly (Truong Sa) archipelago, China’s land reclamation work on Johnson South, Cuarteron, Fiery Cross, Gaven, and Kennan reefs could be used as a clever legal leverage […]

China Bypasses Philippines in Its Proposed ‘Maritime Silk Road’

BEIJING—The Philippines has paid a high price for launching a legal challenge to China over its sweeping claims to the South China Sea: Two-way trade, travel and investment are all languishing. Now, it risks missing out on a planned Chinese infrastructure spending bonanza designed to boost trade and bring jobs to the region. Read more: […]