BEIJING: China is rapidly building an airstrip on an artificial island in disputed South China Sea waters, recent satellite pictures showed, potentially ramping up tensions with several South-East Asian neighbours.
Fiery Cross was little more than a reef when China began land reclamation works to turn it into an island late last year.
Satellite images taken last week by DigitalGlobe and shown on the website of the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) showed the runway – estimated at 3,110m in total – more than one-third complete, it said.
When in operation, it said, the airstrip would be able to “accommodate almost any type of aircraft that China would want to land”.
“Before this construction, China lacked the refuelling and resupply capabilities to reach the southern part of the South China Sea,” it added.
“While they have not yet been built, Fiery Cross should be big enough to accommodate hangar facilities for Chinese aircraft.”
Pictures taken less than four weeks earlier showed two sections measuring 468m and 200m were under construction, CSIS said, demonstrating the speed of the works.
On Wednesday, defence journal IHS Jane’s reported that pictures taken by Airbus Defence and Space on March 23 showed a section of the airstrip that was more than 500m long and 50m wide.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea on the basis of lines on Chinese maps published in the 1940s, locking it into disputes with several South-East Asian neighbours. — AFP/nst
