China’s Buildup in Disputed Area Is Opposed by Vietnam and Taiwan

China may be constructing a military facility on disputed territory in the South China Sea, according to recent satellite photos. The images depict an airfield building on Triton Island, one of the islands in the Paracels group. Vietnam, Taiwan, and China all contend that Triton is their property. Looking east, the airfield building seems like a lengthy runway. The photos were taken in August by Planet Labs PBC. The building is absent from the photos taken in March of this year. After analyzing the satellite images, the Associated Press published a story regarding the runway last week. According to the AP, the pictures displayed two sizable fields denoted with political and patriotic emblems of China. The island stretches for almost 4,000 feet.

Bill Conroy works for intelligence analytic company URSA Space. Regarding the arrangement of the images, he has an alternative view. It may be a levee, he suggests, a device to keep tidal waters away from low-lying areas. “We’re estimating that there’s about 70,000 square meters of land that would be reclaimed from the sea” through the levee, he stated. The building may be a runway, according to experts from the non-profit Center for Strategic and International Studies in the United States. However, they also proposed that it might be an elevated road.

The director of Stanford University’s SeaLight initiative is Ray Powell. It researches naval strategy used by China. When finished, he suggested, the new building on Triton Island might serve as a levee and a road. At the National University of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Hoang Viet is an authority on disputes pertaining to the South China Sea. If it is an airstrip, he claimed, Chinese military aircraft might utilize the island as a refueling station for operations nearby. China and Vietnam are equally separated from the island. Other disputed South China Sea territory has been developed upon by China. The buildings, airfields, and seawalls are dispersed among multiple islands. According to China, these construction projects are for scientific study.