Philippines: Chinese airstrip on disputed reef alarming

By Roy Ramos

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines

The Philippine military described reported Chinese construction on a reef in the disputed South China Sea as alarming Tuesday, and confirmed that Beijing may be constructing a second airstrip in the Spratly Islands.

In a recent report, Washington-based think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said that according to photos of Subi Reef, China may be preparing to set up a second airstrip in the islands, despite no actual paving being observed so far.

A 3,000-meter Chinese airstrip -- the largest in the region, where four other claimants have such structures -- is already in the “advanced stages of construction” at the Fiery Cross Reef.

"Yes, it is factual, and their study is of course based on facts," the Philippine military’s spokesperson, Col. Restituto Padilla, told GMA News Online on Tuesday.

"Whatever is being built there is alarming, that is what we have been saying all along," he stressed. "We are thankful that these think-tanks are giving light to the situation in the South China Sea.”

China claims almost the whole of the potentially oil and mineral-rich South China Sea, which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea, but several other Asian nations have also laid claim.

Criticism by other claimants has recently been mounting against “aggressive” Chinese efforts in the seawaters, including the Spratlys -- also claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

The Philippines’ military public affairs chief, however, has called on the public to not speculate on the purpose behind the construction, GMA reported.

"There is a significant change in the configuration indicating reclamation activities but for what purpose, it's inconclusive," Col. Noel Detoyato said in a separate statement. "What's important here is that more and more people and countries are expressing their concern on the West Philippine Sea issue."

Last year, China began a massive reclamation project on about half a dozen land features in the Spratlys, adding about 3,000 acres of artificial land and turning what were mere rocks barely above water at low tide into artificial islands large enough to host runways long enough to accommodate high-performance jet aircraft and naval docking.

Beijing has turned the Fiery Cross Reef, formerly a mere coral head sticking about a meter out of water, into the largest land feature.

According to the CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, an airbase at the site would grant China “much-improved situational awareness” and allow it “to deploy rotations of maritime surveillance aircraft”.

“China may be more readily able to use the airbase for patrols or limited offensive operations against other South China Sea claimants, or even United States assets,” it said.