China's weapons islands in South China Sea

At least three artificially-built islands in the South China Sea have now been fully militarised by Beijing, presenting a heavily weaponised battle line more than 1,000 miles from the Chinese coast, the US Indo-Pacific commander has disclosed. The reefs converted into bases in the Spratly Islands archipelago are bristling with anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, as well as fighter aircraft, Admiral John Aquilino told Associated Press reporters while flying in a P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft over the area. The admiral said the militarisation of the reef islands had gone ahead despite pledges from Beijing that they had no plans to do so. In 2015 President Xi Zinping denied there were any moves to establish military strongholds on the artificial islands. Referring to the Spratly Islands, the Chinese leader said then: “Relevant construction activity that China is undertaking does not target or impact any country and there is no intention to militarise.” Aquilino who took over as commander of US Indo-Pacific Command in May last year, accused China of engaging over the last two decades in “the largest military build-up since World War II”. Three of the completed artificially-built bases at Subi Reef, Mischief Reef and Fiery Cross Reef, formerly rocks in the Spratly Islands, are packed with multi-storey buildings, hangars, warehouses, runways, seaports and white-domed radars. At Fiery Cross there were more than 40 vessels anchored. “The function of those islands is to expand the offensive capability of the PRC [People’s Republic of China] beyond their continental shores,” Aquilino said. “They can fly fighters, bombers, plus all those offensive capabilities of missile systems,” he said. “That’s the threat that exists, that’s why it’s so concerning for the militarisation of these islands. They threaten all nations who operate in the vicinity and all the international sea and airspace,” Aquilino said. China claims sovereignty of all islands and reefs in the South China Sea. Beijing which began constructing bases on coral atolls in the sea about ten years ago, disputes rival sovereignty claims made by other countries in the region: Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei. The US rejects China’s sovereignty claims as unlawful and has frequently warned Beijing against threatening nations using the international waterway as a trading route for an annual $5 trillion’s worth of goods. To back up the right of access for ships and aircraft in the South China Sea, the US has adopted a robust naval presence in the region. In January two US carrier strike groups, led by USS Carl Vinson and USS Abraham Lincoln, carried out maritime exercises in the area. During the US Navy Poseidon flight close to the artificial islands, it received a number of Chinese radio calls warning that the aircraft had illegally entered China’s territory. One message said: “China has sovereignty over the Spratly Islands as well as surrounding maritime areas. Stay away immediately to avoid misjudgment.” The crew ignored the warning and continued with the mission, radioing back that the aircraft was conducting “lawful military activities beyond the national airspace of any coastal state”.