China Starts Building Artificial Islands in Vietnam’s Paracel Islands
16 Feb 2016
Satellite images published in The Diplomat indicate that China has begun an extensive construction operation in the South China Sea’s Paracel Islands, following years of work building artificial islands in the Spratly Archipelago.
The Diplomat is showcasing images of specific islands in the Paracels, which lie in disputed territory in the body of water. China claims both the Spratly and Paracel Islands for itself, a claim disputed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Malaysia. Vietnam claims most of the Paracel region China has begun working on.
According to the magazine, Chinese construction crews are working on a helicopter base on Duncan Island, which has required land dredging that has “increase[d] by 50 percent the area of Duncan Island.” In addition to the base, The Diplomat finds evidence for the beginnings of a number of new, potentially military facilities in the region. Construction appears to have begun in earnest in early December 2015. The magazine suggests these facilities may resmeble the “water capture reservoirs and fuel bunkers” constructed illegally on the Spratly Islands.
The new construction occurs just 15 kilometers from Woody Island, where China already boasts a military base, Bloomberg reports. It is not the first time evidence has surfaced of Chinese construction in the Paracel Islands, however. In April 2015, The Diplomat published images showing that the Woody Island military base “is undergoing a major expansion of its runway and airport facilities,” including the installation of a “new concrete runway measuring 2,920 meters in length, accompanied by a new taxiway, expanded runway aprons and adjacent large buildings under construction.”
The construction at the Paracels appears to be similar to that in the Spratly Islands, where China has made islands out of major parts of the Fiery Cross Reef. Environmentalists have suggested that China has destroyed at least 17 reefs in the Spratly region, in international waters also claimed by the Philippines. Construction there has continued despite international outrage and a claim by the Chinese government in June 2015 that construction in the region would be “complete” soon.
