China Begins Construction Work In Disputed Area Of South China Sea
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China has begun work on building an airstrip or military outpost in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, said the Philippines on Wednesday, just a week after the Chinese also deployed an oil rig in another set of disputed waters near Vietnam.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said that it had lodged a formal protest with China regarding ongoing construction work at Johnson South Reef in the Spratlys, but the Chinese government chose to reject the protest.
China has begun work on building an airstrip or military outpost in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, said the Philippines on Wednesday, just a week after the Chinese also deployed an oil rig in another set of disputed waters near Vietnam.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said that it had lodged a formal protest with China regarding ongoing construction work at Johnson South Reef in the Spratlys, but the Chinese government chose to reject the protest.
“They’re about to build an airstrip,” Philippine Foreign Ministry spokesman Charles Jose told Reuters, claiming that the work was in violation of the 2002 Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, an informal code of conduct signed by both China and ASEAN – agreeing to avoid making any provocative moves in disputed territory.
The Johnson South Reef has been occupied by China since a military clash with Vietnam in 1988, which that killed around 90 Vietnamese sailors. The Philippines also claims the reef.
On Wednesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday that China was indeed in the midst of building something on Johnson South Reef, declining to reveal what was being built but saying that the “reef is Chinese territory” and such activity was normal.
[quote]”Construction by the Chinese side on an island in Chinese territory is entirely a matter that comes under Chinese sovereignty,” she said.[/quote]Last week, the government boldly deployed a large oil rig, guarded by a flotilla of ships, to disputed waters east of Vietnam.
That action sparked anti-Chinese protests and violence against factories in Vietnam, and prompted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to criticize Beijing’s “aggressive” and “provocative” moves.
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At an ASEAN summit meeting in Myanmar on Sunday, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung branded China’s deployment of the rig as an “extremely dangerous action.” The Chinese government subsequently chided Dung for using the summit to air his grievances.
The Spratly Islands encompass over 750 islands, islets, reefs, and other features in the South China Sea. Different areas of the Spratlys are claimed by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Richard Bitzinger of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore told Reuters that any airstrip built on Johnson South Reef would be “far too small to have a huge impact” strategically. Instead, he viewed the construction as the way for China to “lay down one more marker to solidify [China’s] position.”
