China’s military this week sent a famed singer of patriotic anthems to perform before navy officers and construction workers on a newly created island in a disputed section of the South China Sea, underscoring its growing confidence in asserting its maritime claims.
The visit by Song Zuying (宋祖英) and other performers was documented in photographs spread across state media yesterday that offered a rare glimpse of the extensive work China has been carrying out on the former coral reefs in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), including lighthouses, harbors and buildings.
Taiwan also claims the Spratlys Islands.
Photo: AP
Several of the photographs were accompanied by captions saying they had been taken on Tuesday on Cuarteron Reef (Huayang Reef, 華陽礁), which is also claimed by the Philippines.
In the background can be seen one of the navy’s massive Type 071 amphibious dock ships capable of carrying four helicopters and as many as 800 troops.
Xinhua news agency said the group also performed a show titled The People’s Navy Advances on Monday evening on Fiery Cross Reef (Yongshu Reef, 永暑島), where China has constructed a runway capable of handling its largest military aircraft.
The show included magic tricks and songs such as Ode to the South Sea Defenders, Xinhua said.
Tensions have been rising in the area, in part because the US has refused to acknowledge China’s newly built territories as enjoying the legal status of naturally occurring islands, with their accompanying territorial seas and exclusive economic zones.
Although it takes no formal stance on competing sovereignty claims, Washington has insisted on freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and the US Navy has sailed and flown past and over the new islands to drive home the point, prompting an angry response from Beijing.
China has said it will take whatever measures it considers necessary to defend its claim to virtually all of the South China Sea.
Its navy and coast guard already are active in the area and both civilian and military planes have already landed on Fiery Cross in a sign of how China intends to proceed regardless of complaints from the US and others that its activities are contributing to the militarization of a waterway through which passes more than US$5 trillion in global trade each year.
Song, a star of the military arts troupe who once performed with Celine Dion on state television, was a big hit with the workers and soldiers, Xinhua said in its account.
“I was so excited for ... the troupe to come to the front line islands,” said one member of Fiery Cross’ garrison, Huang Tianjun. “We will most definitely hold fast here and defend every inch of the reef.”
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