The official China Daily reported Sanya International Cruise Development Co Ltd and China Communications Construction Co Ltd will buy between five and eight ships for this objective.
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“The company is already operating “Stream of the South Asia Sea, a brand new cruise ship”, Sanya International Cruise” chairman Liu Junli said, according to the state-run China Daily newspaper. The Court also ruled on the legal status of each of the terrain features in the Spratly Islands area that the Philippines had incorporated in its case. The report added that by next summer they have plans to add two more cruise ships.
Hotels, villas, duty-free shops, tropical-themed commercial parks and commercial streets will all be built to improve the services on the island.
China’s rejection last week of the arbitral tribunal’s decision concerning sovereignty of the South China Sea should not surprise us.
Countries competing to cement their rival claims have encouraged a growing civilian presence on disputed islands in the South China Sea.
In a bid to distance himself from the Philippines’ previous administration, and avoid retaliation from Beijing for the ruling, the country’s new president, Rodrigo Duterte, has indicated that he might be willing to make concessions on the South China Sea issue, explained Malcolm Cook, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.
Meanwhile, China’s highest-ranking officer, Gen Fan Changlong, is making an inspection visit to the Southern Theater Command, which includes the South China Sea.
China has clearly refused to recognise the ruling and this week it continued combat exercises off the east coast of Hainan island province.
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The Court went on to determine that, as some areas of the South China Sea are within the Philippines EEZ (measured from the main Philippine archipelago), Chinese activities had violated Philippine sovereign rights.
