China's Island Factory

[muriel_volestrangler]

A long piece on how China is literally building new islands in the Spratlys, the archipelago in the South China Sea that it claims (despite being far closer to the Philippines and Malaysia).

At the beginning of this year, the Chinese presence in the Spratly Islands consisted of a handful of outposts, a collection of concrete blockhouses perched atop coral atolls.

Now it is building substantial new islands on five different reefs.
...
On one of these new islands, perhaps Johnson South Reef, China seems to be preparing to build an air base with a concrete runway long enough for fighter jets to take off and land.
...
Beijing only took control of Johnson South Reef in 1988 after a bloody battle with Vietnam that left 70 Vietnamese sailors dead. Hanoi has never forgiven Beijing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_8701/index.html