Washington – Recent satellite images published on Thursday show China has made rapid progress in building an airstrip suitable for military use in contested territory in the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands and may be planning another, moves that have been greeted with concern in the United States and Asia.
IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly said the March 23 images from Airbus Defence and Space showed work on the runway on reclaimed parts of Fiery Cross Reef (Kagitingan Reef) in the Spratly archipelago, which China contests with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.
It said images from earlier in March showed reclamation work on Subu Reef (Zamora Reef) in the Spratlys creating landmasses that, if joined together, could create space for another 3,000-meter (3,281-yard) airstrip.
The report said other images suggested China was working to extend another airstrip to that length in the Paracel Islands further north in the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, a vital shipping route through which $5 trillion of trade passes every year.
The report comes a day after the US military commander for Asia, Admiral Samuel Locklear, said China, which claims most of the South China Sea, could eventually deploy radar and missile systems on outposts it is building that could be used to enforce an exclusion zone should it move to declare one.
Manila Bulletin
