China plans to build military base on Kagitingan Reef – report

Amid ongoing tensions over a maritime territorial row with the Philippines, China plans to create a military base in the disputed Kalayaan Island Group, a report from South China Morning Post said Saturday.

According to the SCMP report, a military base will be built after the planned expansion of an artificial island located on the Fiery Cross Reef, which the Philippines calls Kagitingan Reef.

Chinese Naval Research Institute expert Li Jie told SCMP that the military base will feature an airstrip and a port. The base will also have storage for military supplies.

China has already constructed an observation post on the reef, the report said.

If the construction of a military base pushes through, China will have a strategic outpost in the heart of disputed territories in the South China Sea including the Spratlys and the KIG.

According to Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations in Renmin University in Beijing, the artificial island will be at least double the size of the US military base in Diego Garcia, which occupies an area of 44 square kilometers in the Indian Ocean.

Jin also said the proposal to construct the artificial island was submitted to the Chinese central government and approval will depend on the progress of Chinese reclamation at Johnson South Reef (Mabini Reef).

“It's a very complicated oceanic engineering project, so we need to learn from the experience [on Johnson South Reef],” he told SCMP.

In an earlier report, supposed images of the planned military base were released by the blog Tiananmen's Tremendous Achievements. The blog also said that the base will include an airstrip.

GMA News Online tried to reach the Department of Foreign Affairs for comment but they have yet to reply as of posting time.

DFA spokesman Charles Jose has previously said these Chinese construction on disputed territories will not help strained relations between China and the Philippines.

“It's raising tension in the area and it's in violation of international law,” Jose said.

The Philippines previously protested China's reclamation work in Mabini Reef, which is among the areas subject to territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

More recently, a United Nations-backed international arbitral tribunal gave China a December 15 deadline to answer the points raised in a case filed by the Philippines. — Andrei Medina/JDS, GMA News