Beijing reclaiming 5 Spratly reefs: Philippine report

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-06-15

A Chinese worker installs a nagivational lamp post near the Paracel
Islands in the disputed South China Sea, May 23. (Photo/CNS)

China is carrying out land reclamation operations and output construction projects on five reefs in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, according to a report from the Philippine Star.

The June 13 article, citing a confidential Philippine government report, says China is carrying out the works on the five resource-rich islands — Johnson South, Cuarteron, Hughes, Gaven and Eldad — all as part of its aggressive campaign to claim sovereignty over most parts of the South China Sea.

The report said China was focusing its land reclamation projects in areas farther from the Philippine mainland and could begin further reclamation activities in three other areas, namely Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef and Mischief Reef, where China has already built military garrisons and communications facilities, once the first operation on the five reefs are complete.

Senior Philippine government officials have confirmed the Chinese reclamation activities, saying that recent surveillance flights over the Spratlys discovered the presence of dredging and material displacement ships.

Last month, Manila released surveillance photos of Chinese land reclamation operations on the Johnson South Reef and noted that a building an airstrip on the reef was a possibility.

In March, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs also released photos of China's reclamation activities on the Mabini Reef, which is part of the Kalayaan Island Group in the Spratlys, while also suggesting that an airstrip could be built there so Beijing can enforce its controversial air defense identification zone in the region.

The report goes on to say that despite the recent developments in the ongoing territorial dispute over the Spratlys between the two countries, Philippine president Benigno Aquino III and Chinese ambassador Zhao Jianhua exchanged conciliatory statements on Tuesday before the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry as part of Filipino-Chinese Friendship Day.

Zhao reportedly described the dispute as "temporary" and would paled in comparison to the "thousand-year-old friendship and extensive cooperation" between the two countries, and said he was "fully confident about the future of China-Philippines relations."

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