South China Sea: Photos reveal secret underground base off Hainan Island A cavern built into the side of a mountain had analysts perplexed. The Philippines has reopened its Subic Bay base to U.S. Navy vessels, and Manila is seeking redress in a UNCLOS arbitration case against China. the South China Sea, not to any particular disputed area. High-resolution satellite images from March 17 (above) show that Woody Island, occupied by China since 1956, is undergoing a major expansion of its runway and airport facilities. These islands are modest, even diminutive, but they form the core of a fierce territorial dispute among six primary claimants: Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. China claims about 90% of the South China Sea, including the archipelago of islands, reefs and atolls known as the Spratlys (red line at the picture: 'nine-dash line'). Drummond Island has the largest closed-loop trail system for off-road adventures in the State of Michigan. The island boasts a population of 1,058 people. Eighty kilometers southwest of Woody, on Duncan Island (seized by China from Vietnam in 1974) satellite images show landfill that has increased the size of the island by approximately 50 percent since April 2014. As Vietnam’s Communist Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong met with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing last week, China’s government news service Xinhua extolled a “deep-rooted partnership” between the two nations. A satellite image obtained by CNN show China has deployed a flight of at least four J-10 fighter jets on Woody Island in the South China Sea, the first known deployment of … His reporting from the South China Sea, the East China Sea, China, Indonesia, and other Asian territories can be found in The Diplomat and elsewhere. Much attention has been focused in recent weeks on China’s exceedingly rapid land reclamation and construction on at least seven disputed reefs further south in the South China Sea, within the Spratly Island group. Known as Chenhang Dao in Chinese and Đảo Quang Hòa in Vietnamese, the island houses a military garrison, four radar domes, a concrete manufacturing plant, and a port that has recently been expanded via dredging and coral cutting. ; There are more than 13 ecosystems on the island including six forest types, five swamp-marsh types, inland lakes and rivers, and cobble beaches. But all of these reactions appear to be occurring in slow motion compared to the speed with which China’s dredgers, bulldozers, and portable concrete factories are being deployed across the South China Sea. Cruise routes to the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea will resume next month following an 11-month suspension due to the COVID-19 epidemic, according to the Hainan provincial department of transportation. NEW military intelligence photographs reveal just how advanced China’s artificial island fortresses have become. One feature in the South China Sea, however, does meet the criteria to be an island. "Dragon in the Shadows: Calculating China's Advances in the South China Sea", Michael W. Studeman, March 1996, ADA313771, NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA Paracel (Xisha) Islands - … China’s claims that the rocks, shoals, and reefs it illegally occupies are islands are discernably false. ... reefs further south in the South China Sea, within the Spratly Island group. Military bases that China has built on artificial islands in the South China Sea are too small, too far from the mainland and vulnerable to attack, according to a magazine associated with the Chinese China claims almost all the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, where it has established military outposts on artificial islands By Reuters Mon, 11/18/2019 - 07:56 AM Drummond Island is a rock/island located in the Paracel Islands. Get the AMTI Brief, our monthly feature on political, military, and environmental developments in the South and East China Seas and the claimants bordering them. Article 2 of the Treaty of Tientsin (1885) forced China to stop any claims to suzerainty all over Vietnam. 2020 The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative and The Center for Strategic and International Studies |, UPDATE: China’s Continuing Reclamation in the Paracels, Promoting openness and exchange in maritime Asia. These claimants also clash over their rights and duties in the nearby waters as well as the seabed underneath. Victor Robert Lee reports from the Asia-Pacific region and is the author of the espionage novel Performance Anomalies. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng) HAIKOU, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Cruise routes to the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea will resume next month following an 11-month suspension due to the COVID-19 epidemic, according to the Hainan provincial department of transportation. Within the past five months, a 2,400-meter airstrip has been completely replaced with a new concrete runway measuring 2,920 meters in length, accompanied by a new taxiway, expanded runway aprons and adjacent large buildings under construction. Therefore, the French also took over the control of the Paracel Isl… As it appears, China plans to push forward in the South China Sea by developing a new island city in the Woody Island (Yongxing in Chinese), the Tree islet (Zhaoshu in Chinese) and the Drummond islet (Jinqing in Chinese). Yes, in the past few months there has been a dialogue regarding a possible strategic partnership between Vietnam and the Philippines, the latter being especially alarmed by China’s reef takeovers in waters close to its shores. Hence ... South Island, South Sand, and Woody Island. Lin-coln Island is situated somewhat further east. But 400 kilometers off Vietnam’s coast, in the Paracel Islands, China was rapidly consolidating its hold on islands that both countries vehemently claim as their own. On January 16, 1974, six South Vietnamese Army officers and an American observer on the frigate Lý Thường Kiệt (HQ-16) were sent to the Paracels on an inspection tour. 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