China Military Advance in South China Sea to Test US Outreach: China has allegedly boosted its military presence in the disputed area of Spratly Islands in the South China Sea by building an artificial island spacious enough to host an airstrip, thus raising security concerns of a key US ally in the region, the Philippines, as well as several other nations, including Republic of China in Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.
Several recent satellite images of the South China Sea, as disclosed by the British open-source intel publisher IHS Jane's, have shown that China is building an 3,000 m long and 200-300 m wide island on Fiery Cross Reef, near the contested area of the mineral-rich Spratly islands.
The artificial island is being constructed using multiple-operated dredging engines, which allow for quick terrain-generation. The machinery used by China is clearly visible on the pictures dated November 14, with harbor seabed sediment being piped towards the newly-created segments of terrain. The shots were made by Airbus Defence and Space, according to Jane's.
