Sand, cement, wood and steel are the latest tools in China’s territorial arsenal as it seeks to reshape the South China Sea.
Chinese ships carrying construction materials regularly ply the waters near the disputed Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), also claimed by Taiwan, carrying out work that intends to raise new islands from the sea, according to Philippine fishermen and officials in the area. China’s efforts are reminiscent of Dubai’s Palm resort-style land reclamation, they say.
“They are creating artificial islands that never existed since the creation of the world, like the ones in Dubai,” said Eugenio Bito-onon, 58, mayor of a sparsely populated stretch of the Spratlys called Kalayaan, or “freedom” in Filipino.
“The construction is massive and nonstop. That would lead to total control of the South China Sea,” Bito-onon said on May 28, citing fishermen.
Artificial islands could help China anchor its claims and potentially develop bases to control waters that contain some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
China, which says the area falls within its 1940s-era “nine-dash line” map, successfully assumed control of the Scarborough Shoal — which it and additional claimant Taiwan refer to as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) — from the Philippines in 2012, and has pressured Vietnam in the past month with an exploratory oil rig in waters claimed by its neighbor.
“China’s end game is to have de facto — if not de jure — control over adjacent waters, the Western Pacific,” said Richard Javad Heydarian, a political science lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University. “The only question is if and how it will achieve it. China might need to consider more coercive measures to do so, given the hardening resistance of other claimant states.”
The Spratlys are a collection of more than 100 islands or reefs that dot the waters of the southern South China Sea. The islands have been at the center of sparring for decades, claimed in part by Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam, Philippines and China. In 1988, a Chinese naval attack in the area killed 64 Vietnamese border guards. China has sought to cut off supplies to the Ayungin Shoal (仁愛礁), where the Philippines scuttled a naval boat in 1999 on which it stations a handful of soldiers.
The islands and reefs cover about 5km2 of land, spread over an area about the size of Iraq. It is a commercial fishing area for tuna, mackerel, squid, octopus and turtles, and may contain large oil and gas deposits.
The US Energy Information Administration in a report from February last year estimated there to be about 11 billion barrels of oil reserves and 5.38 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves in the broader South China Sea. Those figures are based on both proved and probable reserves, it said.
China considers the Nansha Islands part of its territory, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) told reporters on Friday last week.
“Anything China does on any of the islands or atolls is within its sovereign rights, and the Philippines has nothing to do with it,” Hong said.
China’s land reclamation in the disputed Johnson South Reef (Chigua Reef, 赤瓜礁), about 385 nautical miles (713km) from Scarborough Shoal, started in February and “we’re almost sure that will be a base” for China, Philippine Secretary of Defense Voltaire Gazmin said on May 15.
The Philippine defense ministry said last month that it spotted a large ship siphoning sand nearby.
The Philippines has noted activity around two more reefs, known as Gaven and Cuarteron, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III told reporters on Thursday last week.
“We are again bothered; there seem to be developments, among them a movement of ships,” Aquino said.
Having islands with air strips could aid China if it were to seek to replicate its East China Sea air defense identification zone (ADIZ) further south.
China declared the zone in November last year over islands where it contests sovereignty with Taiwan and Japan.
“If you want to patrol and ‘enforce’ an ADIZ, you need planes in the air; these could be launched from bases in Hainan and Woody Island [Yongxing Island, 永興島], or from the new aircraft carrier” China launched in 2012, Richard Bitzinger, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said by e-mail.
China’s reclamation efforts may serve as a template for waters disputed with Vietnam, among others. It’s placement of the oil rig off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) has led to clashes between coast guard vessels.
“All unilateral actions by foreign parties that change the ‘status quo’ of this area are a severe infringement of Vietnam’s sovereignty,” Nguyen Thi Thai Thong, a deputy spokeswoman for Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in an e-mail on Tuesday, referring to the Spratlys. Vietnam affirms its claim to the area, she said.
“China is already making its aerial presence felt over the South China Sea, with aircraft reported to be supporting its maritime flotilla around the oil rig off the coast of Vietnam,” said Rory Medcalf, Director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney.
Chinese vessels unloaded sacks of cement and piles of wood and steel near Johnson South Reef in the middle of last month, according to fishing contractor Pasi Abdulpata, who received a call from one of the 40 fishermen aboard two 19.8m speedboats in the area at the time.
“They looked like they were going to build houses. They came in three big ships the size of our coast guard vessels,” Abdulpata, 40, said by telephone on May 28. “What China is doing is wrong, deforming the ocean.”
Asked about the safety of the fishermen, Abdulpata said: “If the Chinese would run after them, they’d know where to hide.”
Even so, the crews are getting nervous, especially after the Philippines last month detained and then charged nine Chinese fishermen with poaching.
In October last year, Abdulpata was fishing in the northern Spratlys near Parola Island when he encountered Chinese vessels.
“There was this huge Chinese ship sucking sand and rocks from one end of the ocean and blasting it to the other side using a tube,” he said.
Building a structure on the Johnson South Reef may contravene a 2002 declaration between China and ASEAN. The non-binding Declaration of Conduct calls on parties to refrain from “inhabiting the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, cays and other features.”
China strictly follows the declaration, Hong said.
The Philippines is monitoring activity at the Fiery Cross Reef (Yongshu Reef, 永暑礁), with online Chinese news portal Qianzhan.com reporting in February that China has drawn up a plan to reclaim land in the area to build a military base.
Any move to fortify the reef with a runway or seaport would “raise tensions and violate the Declaration of Conduct,” Philippine foreign affairs spokesman Charles Jose said by telephone.
China and ASEAN agreed to start talks in July last year on a legally binding code, although the discussions have made little progress.
“There have been a number of press reports about activities in the South China Sea, such as reclamation work and such as large-scale construction of outposts that go far beyond what a reasonable person would consider to be consistent with the maintenance of the ‘status quo,’” US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel said.
“Coercion and the threat of force as a mechanism for advancing territorial claims is simply unacceptable,” Russel said on Tuesday in a teleconference with reporters.
The Philippines has taken its dispute to a UN tribunal, a process China does not recognize.
Bito-onon favors arbitration, given the Philippines, a US treaty ally, is dwarfed militarily by China.
“You can’t fight a gun with a bolo,” he said in Puerto Princesa City on Palawan Island, referring to a machete-type knife. “That’s crazy.”
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry