Recent satellite images published on Thursday show China has made rapid progress in building an airstrip suitable for military use in contested territory in the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands and may be planning another, moves that have been greeted with concern in the United States and Asia.
IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly said March 23 images from Airbus Defence and Space showed work on the runway on reclaimed parts of Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly archipelago, which China contests with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
It said images from earlier in March showed reclamation work on Subu Reef in the Spratlys creating landmasses that, if joined together, could create space for another 3,000-meter airstrip.
The report said other images suggested China was working to extend another airstrip to that length in the Paracel Islands further north in the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, a vital shipping route through which $5 trillion of trade passes every year.
The report comes a day after the US military commander for Asia, Admiral Samuel Locklear, said China, which claims most of the South China Sea, could eventually deploy radar and missile systems on outposts it is building that could be used to enforce an exclusion zone should it move to declare one.
Senator John McCain, chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, called the Chinese moves “aggressive” and said they showed the need for the Obama administration to act on plans to move more military resources into the economically important Asian region and boost cooperation with Asian countries worried by China.
McCain referred to a US intelligence assessment from February that China’s military modernisation was designed to counteract US strength and said Washington had a lot of work ahead to maintain its military advantage in the Asia-Pacific.
“When any nation fills in 600 acres of land and builds runways and most likely is putting in other kinds of military capabilities in what is international waters, it is clearly a threat to where the world’s economy is going, has gone, and will remain for the foreseeable future,” he told a public briefing in Congress.
A spokesperson for the US State Department said the scale of China’s land reclamation and construction was fueling concerns within the region that China intends to militarise its outposts and stressed the importance of freedom of navigation.
“The United States has a strong interest in preservation of peace and security in the South China Sea. We do not believe that large-scale land reclamation with the intent to militarise outposts on disputed land features is consistent with the region’s desire for peace and stability.”
The issue was discussed in a meeting in Washington between US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Japanese and South Korean counterparts.
Japan’s Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki told reporters afterwards that China had a duty to address regional concerns, while his Korean counterpart, Cho Tae-yong, stressed the importance of stability in the South China Sea for trading nations like his.
The United States warned last week against militarisation of contested territory in Asia, and President Barack Obama accused China of using its “sheer size and muscle” to push around smaller nations, after Beijing sketched out plans to use the Spratlys for military defense as well as to provide civilian services that would benefit other countries.