Asia
Pacific Ocean
South China Sea
Africa
Australia
The speed and scale of China’s island-building spree have alarmed other countries with interests in the region. China announced in June that the creation of islands — moving sediment from the seafloor to a reef — would soon be completed. Since then, China has focused its efforts on construction. So far it has constructed port facilities, military buildings and an airstrip on the islands, with recent imagery showing evidence of two more airstrips under construction. The installations bolster China’s foothold in the Spratly Islands, a disputed scattering of reefs and islands in the South China Sea more than 500 miles from the Chinese mainland. China’s activity in the Spratlys is a major point of contention between China and the United States and was a primary topic of discussion between President Obama and President Xi Jinping of China during the Chinese president’s visit to the White House in September. On Monday, the United States sent a Navy destroyer near the islands, entering the disputed waters.
Guangzhou
Hong Kong
Kunming
China
Luzon
Hanoi
Pacific Ocean
South China Sea
Hainan
Manila
Vietnam claims the Paracel and the Spratly Islands.
Myanmar
Laos
Paracel Islands
Philippines
Claimed by the Philippines
China has long marked its claim with a “nine-dash line” that skirts the coasts of other countries.
Visayas
Thailand
Mindanao
Palawan
Vietnam
Yangon
Sulu Sea
Cambodia
Spratly Islands
Bangkok
Fiery Cross Reef
100 Miles
Ho Chi Minh City
Phnom Penh
Celebes Sea
Claimed by Brunei
Gulf of Thailand
Malaysia
Andaman Sea
Claimed by Malaysia
Brunei
Indonesia
Sulawesi
Claimed by Indonesia
Borneo
Guangzhou
Hong Kong
China
Luzon
South China Sea
Hainan
Manila
Paracel Islands
Philippines
Claimed by the Philippines
China has long marked its claim with a “nine-dash line” that skirts the coasts of other countries.
Palawan
Sulu Sea
Vietnam
Spratly Islands
Fiery Cross Reef
100 Miles
Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam claims the Paracel and the Spratly Islands.
Claimed by Brunei
Malaysia
Brunei
Claimed by Malaysia
Indonesia
Claimed by Indonesia
Borneo
China
China has long marked its claim with a “nine-dash line” that skirts the coasts of other countries.
Philippines
Manila
Paracel Islands
Claimed by the Philippines
South China Sea
Vietnam
Fiery Cross Reef
Spratly Islands
Vietnam claims the Paracel and the Spratly Islands.
Malaysia
Brunei
Claimed by Malaysia
The new islands allow China to harness a portion of the sea for its own use that has been relatively out of reach until now. Although there are significant fisheries and possible large oil and gas reserves in the South China Sea, China’s efforts serve more to fortify its territorial claims than to help it extract natural resources, said Mira Rapp-Hooper, formerly the director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington research group.Though too small to support large military units, the islands will enable sustained Chinese air and sea patrols of the area. The United States has reported spotting Chinese mobile artillery vehicles in the region, and the islands could allow China to exercise more control over fishing in the region.
Dredgers
Sediment stream
Dredgers
Sediment stream
Sediment stream
Dredgers
Several reefs have been destroyed outright to serve as a foundation for new islands, and the process also causes extensive damage to the surrounding marine ecosystem. Frank Muller-Karger, professor of biological oceanography at the University of South Florida, said sediment “can wash back into the sea, forming plumes that can smother marine life and could be laced with heavy metals, oil and other chemicals from the ships and shore facilities being built.” Such plumes threaten the biologically diverse reefs throughout the Spratlys, which Dr. Muller-Karger said may have trouble surviving in sediment-laden water.
Sediment is broken up and sucked from the seabed.
Material is transported through a floating pipe.
Dredged material is deposited on the reef.
Anchor pole
Submerged reef
Ocean floor
Sediment is broken up and sucked from the seabed.
Material is transported through a floating pipe.
Dredged material is deposited on the reef.
Anchor pole
Submerged reef
Ocean floor
The Chinese were relative latecomers to island building in the Spratly archipelago, and “strategically speaking, China is feeling left out,” said Sean O’Connor, principal imagery analyst for IHS Jane’s. Still, China’s island building has far outpaced similar efforts in the area, unsettling the United States, which has about $1.2 trillion in bilateral trade go through the South China Sea every year. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter criticized China’s actions in the region in May, asserting that, “The United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as we do all around the world.” The United States reinforced that assertion on Monday and angered the Chinese when it sent the Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, within 12 nautical miles of the islands, the conventional limit for territorial waters. According to statements from David Shear, the top Pentagon official in charge of Asia and the Pacific, the last time the United States sent ships or aircraft that close to the islands was in 2012.
What Is on the Islands?
Philippine claim
Reed Bank
Existing airstrip
Subi Reef
Sand Cay
Gaven Reef
Mischief Reef
Fiery Cross Reef
Johnson South Reef
Hughes Reef
South China Sea
Under construction
Philippines
Spratly Islands
West Reef
Malaysian claim
Sulu Sea
50 Miles
Chinese claim
Philippine claim
Reed Bank
Existing airstrip
Subi Reef
Sand Cay
Gaven Reef
Mischief Reef
Fiery Cross Reef
Johnson South Reef
Hughes Reef
Under construction
Spratly Islands
West Reef
Malaysian claim
50 Miles
Chinese claim
Philippine claim
Reed Bank
Existing airstrip
Subi Reef
Sand Cay
Gaven Reef
Mischief Reef
Fiery Cross Reef
Johnson South Reef
Hughes Reef
Under construction
Philippines
Spratly Islands
West Reef
Malaysian claim
50 Miles
Chinese claim
South China Sea
Existing airstrip
Under construction
Reed Bank
Subi Reef
Sand Cay
Fiery Cross Reef
Mischief Reef
Hughes Reef
Johnson South Reef
Spratly Islands
Philippines
50 Miles
Malaysia
Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan have all expanded islands in the Spratlys as well, but at nowhere near the same scale as China.
2011
2015
Island expansion
2011
2015
Island expansion
2011
2015
Island expansion
For China, the Fiery Cross Reef is the most strategically significant new island, with an airstrip that is long enough to allow China to land any plane, from fighter jets to large transport aircraft. But China’s airstrip is not the first in the region — every other country that occupies the Spratlys already operates one as well.
Dredging pipes
Seawall
10,000-foot airstrip
Apron
Support buildings
Cement plant
Seawall under construction
Temporary loading pier
Harbor
Dredging pipes
Seawall
10,000-foot airstrip
Apron
Support buildings
Cement plant
Seawall under construction
Temporary loading pier
Harbor
Seawall
Support buildings
Cement plant
Temporary loading pier
10,000-foot airstrip
Harbor
Seawall under construction
China’s reefs hosted smaller structures for years before the surge in construction. By preserving these initially isolated buildings, China can claim that it is merely expanding its earlier facilities, similar to what other countries have done elsewhere in the region.
Possible radar facility
Harbor
Cement plant
Pier
Solar panels
Existing structure
Possible radar facility
Harbor
Cement plant
Pier
Solar panels
Existing structure
Harbor
Pier
Existing structure
Possible radar facility
Cement plant
Solar panels
In recent months, China has nearly completed two of its largest island building projects, at Mischief Reef and Subi Reef. Current imagery shows that China has likely started building airstrips on long, straight sections of each of those islands, which would give the country three airstrips in the area.
Half a mile
Airstrip under construction
Existing structure
Lagoon
Access channel
Half a mile
Airstrip under construction
Existing structure
Access channel
Half a mile
Lagoon
Airstrip under construction
Existing structure