The CSIS released the report with the headline “Build and They Will Come: China Prepares Spratlys for Military Aircraft”.
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Following the ruling by an global tribunal last month which rejected Beijing’s claims over much of the disputed sea area, China is campaigning against the issue to be raised in G20 Summit saying it is a matter to be resolved between parties concerned and outsider has no role.
U.S. Navy Adm. Scott Swift, head of U.S. Pacific Fleet, speaks aboard the guided missile destroyer USS Benfold as it is docked in the port in Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong Province, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016.
The latest satellite images of the disputed South China Sea show China has build reinforced aircraft hangars on three specific islands.
Relations between China and the Philippines were severely undermined when Manila took the South China Sea dispute to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, triggering furious reactions from Beijing.
“The situation surrounding the Japan-China relationship is markedly deteriorating”, Japanese Foreign minister Fumio Kishida told the Chinese ambassador, according to the ministry’s statement on its website.
Former Philippine President, Fidel Ramos, has arrived in Hong Kong for talks aimed at rekindling ties with China.
Asked if they had links to Mr Xi, he replied: “I’m sure they have”.
As a special envoy of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Ramos defined the trip as “ice-breaking”, after bilateral ties were jeopardized by an arbitration case unilaterally initiated by Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III. Amid the rift, then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin paid a visit to Manila in 1996 and in a memorable moment, both leaders danced and sang Western songs, including Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender” while on a Manila Bay cruise, helping ease tensions. Are these patrols taking place now or did they occur before the ruling?
Japanese media reports say the recent escalation in China’s activity around the disputed islands may be seen as a warning against planned visits by members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, which honours war criminals among the war dead, for the August 15 anniversary to mark the end of World War II.
“It is totally unacceptable that the Chinese side has taken unilateral actions that further raise tensions in the area, despite the fact that our government has strongly protested a number of times”, said Shinsuke Sugiyama, vice minister for foreign affairs. “It was a sort of gentle intimidation”, Berekoven said.
Several islands controlled by Vietnam in South China sea have been fortified with mobile rocket launchers, which are able to strike the Chinese military bases in the region.
“She’s got a massive anchor chain”.
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The only contact he named was Dr Wu Shicun, president of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies.
