Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier vowed not to militarize the disputed Spratlys, but satellite photos released by an global think tank on Monday shows that Beijing has built reinforced hangars for its fighter jets in three islets in the contested Spratlys.
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Here’s a look at the rapid construction on Mischief Reef, Fiery Cross Reef, and Subi Reef.
In the wake of a court of arbitration ruling on China’s sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, Japan has repeatedly demanded China accept the ruling and resolve territorial disputes peacefully.
Analysts opine the Su-34 aircraft would dominate the skies in the South China Sea as countries such as Vietnam, Philippines and Malaysia which are opposed to China claiming the whole of the South China Sea, have poorly equipped air forces.
Former Philippine leader Fidel Ramos said yesterday he would meet contacts with links to Chinese President Xi Jinping during a trip to Hong Kong meant to improve ties between Manila and Beijing.
Ramos, 88, who described his role as “an icebreaker”, accepted an offer from Duterte to be special envoy to China after the Hague court’s ruling on July 12.
‘China has said many times, construction on the Spratly islands and reefs is multipurpose, mixed, and with the exception of necessary military defensive requirements, are more for serving all forms of civil needs’.
China also claims these islands, along with most of the South China Sea region.
Adm. Scott Swift criticized China-Russia joint naval exercises planned next month in the South China Sea, saying the choice of location was not conducive to “increasing the stability within the region”.
“According to our information, Mr. Ramos during his visit to Hong Kong will hold private conversations with his old Chinese friends”.
“They are far thicker than you would build for any civilian objective”, Gregory Poling, director of CSIS’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, told the Times.
“They’re reinforced to take a strike”.
Mr Ramos emphasised the long history of exchanges and close relationship between China and the Philippines in culture and people- to-people communication, adding that Chinese people discovered the Philippines more than 100 years before the Europeans did, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
China is building three types of hangars on Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef, and Mischief Reef.
The CSIS report also mentioned about some “unidentified hexagonal structures” that were being built quickly at four locations on each islet “always oriented toward the sea”.
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Japan formally protested to China over the weekend, accusing Beijing of installing radar on an offshore gas platform in the East China Sea and of sending fishing and coast-guard vessels into waters around disputed islands there.
