China’s campaign of island building in the South China Sea might soon quadruple the number of airstrips available to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the highly contested and strategically vital region.
The island construction work that is creating vast amounts of new acreage by piling sand on top of coral reefs is now moving into the construction stage, with buildings, harbors and, most importantly, runways appearing in recent months. China now operates one airfield at Woody Island (Yongxing Island, 永興島) in the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) and satellite photographs show what appears to be work on two, possibly three, additional airstrips on newly built islands in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) to the east.
The bases could have a “significant impact on the local balance of power” by helping bolster the forward presence of Chinese Coast Guard and PLA Navy, Lowy Institute International Security Program director Euan Graham said. At a recent monthly briefing, Chinese Ministry of Defense spokesman Wu Qian (吳謙) declined to say how many airstrips China planned to build or what their purpose would be, repeating only that all military infrastructure was “purely for defensive purposes.”
Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea and its islands and has created seven new features in the Spratly Islands since last year that are permanently above water totaling more than 800 hectares, according to satellite photos collected by US government agencies and private groups including the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
While China insists its artificial islands are justified and do not constitute a threat to stability, further militarization of the region seems certain given China’s increasingly robust assertions of its territorial claims.
Those perceptions were reinforced with the deployment of advanced J-11BH/BHS fighter aircraft to Woody Island that was revealed online in China in October. China’s military has declined to comment on the reports.
The island’s 2.4km runway is to soon be eclipsed by one more than 3km long on the artificial island built atop the Fiery Cross Reef (Yongshu Reef, 永暑礁) in the Spratly Islands, the satellite photos show. Another runway is being built on Subi Reef (Jhubi Reef, 渚碧礁), with signs of similar work underway on nearby Mischief Reef (Meiji Reef, 美濟礁).
Patrols by fighter aircraft based on the islands, most likely temporarily given the salty climate and frequent storms, could serve to intimidate other claimants to territory in the region and complicate regular operations by US forces which insist on freedom of navigation and overflight over the entire South China Sea.
“In periods of tension, the intimidation value of air patrols from the islands would be considerable,” Graham said.
The airfields would allow Chinese aircraft to refuel, repair and if necessary, rearm without having to fly the more than 1,000km to the nearest Chinese air base on Hainan, Federation of American Scientists China security expert Hans Kristensen said.
They would also be highly vulnerable to bombing in an actual conflict, although their presence alone would require additional planning and effort by opponents. Short of that, the issue grows murkier and more troublesome, especially if China were to announce a zone of air control over all or part of the South China Sea. In that case, the airstrips could be launching points for patrols, enforcement operations and possibly airstrikes.
China announced an initial air defense identification zone over much of the East China Sea in late 2013, a designation the US, Japan and others refused to recognize.
Early this month China conducted what PLA Air Force spokesman Colonel Shen Jinke (申進科) described as the latest “routine patrol” through the zone, featuring aircraft including H-6K long-range bombers, fighter jets and early warning aircraft.
Questioned on plans for a South China Sea zone, Wu said that would depend on threats to China’s interests and security.
“Therefore we will take into consideration a number of factors in making the decision,” Wu said.
Other countries also operate airstrips on their South China Sea holdings, but their size and level of sophistication are dwarfed by China’s new developments. Vietnam’s strip on Nanwei Island (南威島) is 550m, just long enough to accommodate slow-moving cargo and surveillance planes. Those operated by Taiwan on Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島), the Philippines on Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) and Malaysia on Swallow Reef (Tanwan Reef, 彈丸礁) are about twice as long — also allowing them to land fighters.
However, only the airstrip on Fiery Cross Reef is long enough to accommodate bombers like the H-6K, the air-launched cruise missiles of which increase its destructive power. Located in busy sea lanes, rich fisheries and a potential wealth of mineral deposits, the Chinese airfields would also boost China’s position over strategic resources it needs to fuel economic growth.
However, their usefulness is constrained by the need for large amounts of aircraft fuel.
“If we start to see satellite evidence of fuel storage going in on a large scale in the artificial islands, that will be the clearest indicator that China is planning to develop them as active air bases,” Graham said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not