China building on reefs in disputed Spratly Islands

A Chinese Coast Guard ship sails near a Philippine Coast Guard vessel during its patrol at Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc), 124 nautical miles west of Zambales province, northwestern Philippines. Photo / AP

China is enlarging and building on previously unclaimed land in the disputed Spratly Islands for the first time, officials have said.

For years, Beijing has been strengthening its presence in the South China Sea, militarising disputed reefs, islands and land formations it has long controlled, raising fears it is working to seize control of access to crucial global shipping routes in international waters.

But the latest development, reported by Bloomberg, would be the first known instance of China building on territory it did not already occupy.

Chinese maritime militias have carried out construction work at four unoccupied features in the Spratly Islands over the past decade, the officials said.

Satellite imagery showed what the officials said was a Chinese vessel offloading a hydraulic excavator used in land reclamation projects at Eldad Reef in the northern Spratlys in 2014. New land formations have appeared above the water in the past year. Similar activities have reportedly also taken place at Lankiam Cay - known as Panata Island - in the Philippines, where a feature had been reinforced with a new perimeter wall over the course of just a couple of months last year.

Other images show physical changes at both Whitsun Reef and Sandy Cay, where previously submerged features now sit permanently above the high-tide line. The Philippines said it was “seriously concerned” by the reports of new construction.

”Such activities contravene the Declaration of Conduct on the South China Sea’s undertaking on self-restraint and the 2016 Arbitral Award,” the Philippine foreign ministry said.

Mao Ning, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, called the report “completely groundless”.

”Not taking action on uninhabited islands and reefs of the South China Sea is a solemn consensus reached by China and Asean countries through actions and declarations by each party,” she said, referring to the 10-member bloc.