On the heels of the Senkaku Islands dispute, China is drawing international criticism by building artificial islands in the South China Sea citing security reasons.
China outlined plans on Thursday for artificially beefing up the reef-filled South China Sea Islands, dotted around an area called the Spratly Archipelago. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement that the islands will be used for a wide variety of things: shelters and navigational aids for trading ships, search and rescue teams, weather forecasting, and other governmental services to supposedly encourage progress and stability in the region — also military defense weaponry and stations, but that was not elaborated on.
China has drawn criticism from the US and other countries due to the Spratly archipelago being much closer to other countries in Southeast Asia such as The Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan. These countries all have overlapping claims with China, however China’s economic power more or less allows them to bulldoze into the area, which the Southeast Asian countries see as a problem due to them having military bases on the Spratly’s.
Spokesman for Manila’s defense department Peter Paul Galvez explained in a statement that The Philippines lays claim to that area and called for China to dismantle their artificial islands, pointing out the danger of China ignoring the territorial rights of other countries. The Philippines even took their argument to the United Nations for arbitration, a process China of course opposes.
The South China Sea islands are a powerful area to control, with over 5 trillion in shipments going through the area. That does not count travel and adventure tourism, which may be affected if the region becomes too destabilized. Places such as Palawan Island, the closest land mass to the Spratly Archipelago, which has extensive limestone cliffs and is famous for its wide range of biodiversity and adventure activities such as kayaking, snorkeling, and fishing.
Satellite images from the Center for Strategic and International Studies have shown the progress of the artificial South China Sea islands China is building, from submerged reefs and small chunks of forest to flat areas and manmade harbors. Included in the pictures was a large Chinese military vessel, capable of holding hundreds of troops, dozens of vehicles, and supplies.
Here is a peek at one of the nations affected by the South China Sea Islands dispute, Malaysia — specifically, its capital city, Kuala Lumpur:
https://youtu.be/p4UeJkGzzu0
