SOURCE:
http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/content/china-moves-ahead-south-china-sea-land-reclamation

China to 'COMPLETE' South China Sea Land Reclamation

 

16 June 2015

 

 

                       

Satellite images of Fiery Cross Reef (CNES 2015, Distribution Airbus DS / Spot Image / IHS) 

___________________________________________________                   

South China Sea Tensions

• China's Island Factory

  9 September 2014
• US-China tensions rise over Beijing's 'Great Wall of Sand'

  29 May 2015
• Q&A: South China Sea dispute

  17 April 2015
• China 'building runway in Spratlys'

  17 April 2015

 

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

China will complete a series of controversial land reclamation projects in the South China Sea "soon", the foreign ministry says.

 

The US and countries with competing claims in the area maintain that China is creating artificial islands to use as military bases.

The ministry says they are for defence, but also maritime search and rescue, disaster relief and research.

China claims most of the South China Sea.

Last year, China increased its land reclamation activity prompting the US in May to call for an "immediate and lasting halt" to land reclamation in disputed areas of the South China Sea.

There has also been a spike in tensions between the US military and Chinese navy near the Spratlys in recent weeks.

'Fulfil Relevant Functions'

In the statement on Tuesday, China did not give a timeframe or identify which of the seven reefs undergoing land reclamation would be finished soon.


"China will complete its reclamation project soon as part of its South China Sea construction in parts of the Nansha islands," the foreign ministry said using the Chinese name for the Spratlys.

Once the land reclamation is complete, building would begin on facilities that can "fulfil the relevant functions", the statement said.