Chinese officials are building the first island large enough for its own airfield in the middle of disputed waters in the south sea.

Satellite images revealed that since reclaiming the Spratly Islands in August, workers have expanded one stretch of sand to make it long enough for aircraft to land and take off.

Dredgers are also creating a harbour to the east of the reef large enough to receive tankers and warships.

The 3,000m patch Fiery Cross Reef forms part of the archipelago which has been at the heart of territorial disputes for years.

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Satellite images show that since reclaiming the Spratly Islands in August, workers have expanded one stretch of sand to make it long enough for aircraft to land and take off

While the islands, named after the British sailor Richard Spratly who discovered them in 1843, lie between the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia, they are host to a plethora of military machinery and resources owned by the Republic of China.

Fears that China intended to use the archipelago as a mineral-rich installation of military bases spread when officials began reclaiming the abandoned islands in August.

While the Chinese army controls many of the 750 islets and reefs, it does not yet have its own airfield in the south China sea unlike Malaysian, Vietnamese and Filipino forces.

According to imagery obtained by independent analysis company IHS, dredging has begun on Fiery Cross Reef to create a harbour large enough for military tankers.

China has used dredgers to construct an island about 3000 metres long and 200 to 300 metres wide on the reef, which was previously under water

Workers had built a reinforced seawall around an island on Johnson South Reef in the Spratly Islands by August (pictured)

This satellite image released in April 2014 showed substantial land reclamation, harbour redevelopment, and additional construction activity on Woody Island since October 2013

Johnson South Reef, Cuateron Reef, and Gaven Reefs have all been expanded on since Chinese officials reclaimed the waters earlier this year, though the Fiery Cross Reef is the only island large enough for an airfield.

Jin Zhirui, a colonel with the Chinese air force command, declined to confirm plans to build an airfield on the reef but said China needed to build facilities in the South China Sea for strategic reasons.

'We need to go out, to make our contribution to regional and global peace.

'We need support like this, including radar and intelligence.'

Chinese fishing vessels anchored at Fiery Cross Reef on the disputed Spratly islands where China is thought to be building a massive island

An aerial photograph taken in 1999 shows Chinese workers building on sparse land in the Spratly Islands

THE SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTE OVER ARCHIPELAGO DISCOVERED BY BRITISH SAILOR CAPTAIN RICHARD SPRATLY The dispute centres around hundreds of tiny shoals, reefs and islets in the South China Sea known as the Spratlys and the Paracels. Several south Asian countries stake claim to the territory, though China tries to control the largest portion of the archipelago. Beijing has claimed its right to the collection of land masses is 2,000 years old which, they say, includes the islands in Chinese history. Taiwan supports its claim, and has its own airfield on the island of Taiping. Vietnamese officials say their government has ruled over the land since the 17th century whilst the Philippines, the closest geographically, says the islands belong to them. In 1974, Chinese forces seized the Paracels from Vietnam, killing 70 troops. There were further clashes between the two countries in 1988, with 60 Vietnamese soldiers killed. In 2012 China and the Philippines were embroiled in a lengthy maritime standoff over a Scarborough Shoal. The Filipino military employed its largest warship for the dispute over the stretch of water which they call Panatag. Upon boarding a Chinese military vessel for inspection, officials claimed they found live sharks, clams and illegal reef. Later, Vietnamese border agencies refused to stamp passports asserting Chinese sovereignty over a handful of the islands and in January it was claimed China would be taken to a UN tribunal to challenge its stake. Advertisement



