China Building $1.6-B Piers, Airport In Disputed Sea

From the Manila Bulletin (Dec 26): China Building $1.6-B Piers, Airport In Disputed Sea

China announced early this week that it will invest more than $1.6 billion to build infrastructure, including an airport and piers, on the disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) as well as strengthen marine law enforcement in the region. In a report by the Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Herald, Hainan Province Governor Jiang Dingzhi announced last Monday that China would build an airport, piers and other infrastructure on islands administered by Sansha, a prefecture-level city under Hainan’s jurisdiction that was created in July.

Located on Woody Island (also known as Yongxing Island), the largest island in the Paracels and 350 kilometers southeast of Hainan, Sansha “administers” more than 200 islets, sandbanks and reefs and their surrounding waters in the Nansha (Spratly) Islands, Macclesfield Bank (also called Zhongsha Islands) and the Paracel chains. Based on another newspaper account, some of the construction has already begun. It did not provide any additional details, however.

While serving to create facts on the ground to bolster China’s sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, the investment projects have also been a source of tension with other claimants, forcing Beijing to add a security component to the project. In July, China’s Central Military Commission approved the creation of a military garrison on Sansha. Chinese media also reported that construction and tourism investment companies received approval in August and September, respectively, to proceed with various commercial development plans in the city, including the establishment of a tax haven and casino resorts.

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/387277/china-building-16b-piers-airport-in-disputed-sea