Vietnam has started building a small airport on the disputed Spratly islands, escalating its tourism ambitions in an area claimed by several Asia countries and risking the ire of giant neighbor China.
Construction of the airport with a runway of 600m on the Truong Sa Lon (Large Spratly) island is expected to be completed by the end of this year, a tourism official who declined to be identified said yesterday.
Vietnam already has military facilities and local government officials on the island in the Spratlys, scattered South China Sea atolls where its navy clashed with Chinese ships in 1988.
Against protests from Spratlys claimants China, the Philippines and Taiwan, Vietnam last month sent its first group of tourists to the disputed South China Sea islands. On Tuesday, Defense Minister Pham Van Tra said that foreigners would be permitted on future trips.
An aviation official in Hanoi said the airport would be capable of handling small aircraft such as twin-engine turboprop ATR 72s.
National carrier Vietnam Airlines has eight ATR 72s in its fleet. Tourism officials have said Vietnam Airlines is expected to offer commercial flights for tours to the Spratlys.
It takes two days to travel by boat to the Spratlys, 460km east of Vietnam's central province of Khanh Hoa. So far only Vietnamese military and the occasional chartered flights by helicopters have been operating the route.
Most of the Spratlys -- a cluster of rocks and reefs believed rich in oil and natural gas -- are claimed in whole or in part by China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam. Beijing registered the stiffest protest to Vietnam's tourism trip last month by summoning Vietnam's envoy to express its concern.
Vietnam Prime Minister Phan Van Khai is due to pay a four-day visit to China from next Thursday, ahead of Hanoi's ratification of its pact with Beijing on the Tonkin Gulf delineation.
The agreement was signed with China in December, 2000 on the Tonkin Gulf delineation in the South China Sea.
Vietnam and China have had testy relations for 2,000 years.
Since the normalization of ties in 1991, 12 years after the brief but bloody border war in 1979, the two have regularly exchanged official visits.
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