Japan yesterday warned China that its extensive land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea does not make ownership “a done deal,” after Beijing announced it had almost finished its controversial island-building.
The rebuke came after Washington urged China against militarization of the area, saying it risked escalating tensions, even as satellite pictures have shown a runway long enough to let even the biggest aircraft land.
It also came as details emerged of a joint exercise between Japan and the Philippines, as the relationship blossoms between the two nations most prepared to push back against Beijing’s perceived rising aggression.
“We hold serious and significant concerns about the unilateral actions aimed at changing the status quo, which are bound to increase tension,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
“With the completion of the reclamation, we must not accept the land reclamation as a done deal. We demand [China] not take unilateral actions that bring irreversible and physical changes,” he added.
Responding to the comments, Beijing countered that “it makes no sense” for Japan to press China on the issue.
“China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands [南沙群島] and we do not need to prove this by building facilities on the islands and reefs,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang (陸慷) told a regular press briefing, using the Chinese name for the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
Japan has long criticized China’s attempts to change the status quo unilaterally and by force, mindful of its own dispute with Beijing over islands in the East China Sea.
The US says China has created 800 hectares of new land in the South China Sea in the past 18 months.
Manila yesterday said that a 3km runway on Fiery Cross Reef (Yongshu Reef, 永暑礁) — big enough to handle a Boeing 747 — was “75 percent complete”.
“This can serve as China’s forward operating base, a refueling stop for ships and aircraft,” Philippine Department of Defense spokesman Peter Galvez said.
“This will allow China easy reach in the West Philippine Sea [the Filipino name for a section of the South China Sea claimed by Manila] and extend their reach up to Australia and other parts of the South Pacific,” Galvez said.
“They can do anything they want there. It could be their command and control center,” he added.
Beijing claims almost all the South China Sea, despite a number of overlapping territorial claims by Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
Beijing yesterday also rolled out more details of the building work it is undertaking in the disputed South China Sea, listing lighthouses, communications stations and other facilities for civilian and emergency use.
The country’s top planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, said in a short statement it had drawn up a plan for the use of civil facilities on the Spratly Islands.
These facilities would help improve living conditions there and also fulfil China’s international obligations on environmental monitoring, disaster relief and navigational safety, the commission said.
Large lighthouses for navigation are included in the building plan, along with base stations for wireless navigation equipment, weather stations to monitor tsunamis, scientific research stations and equipment to tackle oil spills, it added.
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