The recent satellite photographs published by Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) shows the construction of the hangars on three reclaimed islands where Beijing has built military bases.
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“The Chinese court’s ruling is China’s way of saying that it has the right to continue to do what it wants in the South China Sea, despite the verdict from the worldwide court in favor of the Philippines”, Kaplan told Business Insider in a previous interview. Beijing’s territorial claims to the Spratly Islands, known as Nansha Islands in China, which are believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves, run against those of the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.
And while it’s unclear if the patrols took place before or after the ruling, Beijing has maintained that the worldwide court has no bearing on its rights in the South China Sea.
But China has ignored the court’s ruling that none of its reefs and holdings in the Spratly Islands entitled it to a 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
Swift, who was onboard a U.S. destroyer in its first visit to the port of Qingdao since the ruling, said on Tuesday that although China’s recent activities in the South China Sea (such as conducting military drills, constructing fighter jet hangars on the disputed Spratlys, carrying out air patrols over disputed islands and scheduling military exercise with Russian forces in September) may not be a direct response to the tribunal ruling, it has definitely raised more tension in the region.
Beijing denies the accusations and says United States patrols have ramped up tensions.
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.
Here’s a look at the rapid construction on Mischief Reef, Fiery Cross Reef, and Subi Reef.
The transparency initiative’s director, George B. Poling, told The New York Times the structures were large enough to accommodate China’s fleet.
These include the J-11 and Su-30 fighters, H-6 bombers, the H-6U refuelling tanker and the air force’s largest aircraft the Y-20 and Il-76 transport planes.
‘China has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly islands and nearby waters, ‘ China’s Defence Ministry said in a faxed response to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Japan is demanding China remove surveillance equipment from a gas-drilling platform in global waters in the East China Sea, The Wall Street Journal reports. “They are reinforced to take a strike”.
Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida summoned China’s ambassador Tuesday and lodged a protest over the increase in the number of Chinese vessels in waters near the Senkaku Islands.
Dr Chong Ja Ian, an global relations expert at the National University of Singapore, told TODAY the structures on the islands indicated China’s wish to reserve the right to deploy military assets on the features it controls in the Spratlys.
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China, and other counties in Asia, in particular South Korea, feel that Japan has never properly atoned for its aggression before and during World War Two.
