China is building its first military-length runway on a disputed island chain in the South China Sea

Jeremy Bender, Business Insider | April 17, 2015 

DigitalGlobe/AFP/GettyA satellite image of what is claimed to be an under-construction airstrip at Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea.

China has begun construction of a military-length runway on an artificial island in the disputed South China Sea, according to an analysis by IHS Jane’s based on satellite imagery from Airbus Defense and Space.

The runway is being constructed along the Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands. According to Jane’s, the reef will be capable of holding a runway 3,000 metres long. This is well within the length of military runways in China, which range from 2,700 metres to 4,000 metres long.

As of March 23, China had begun paving sections of the runway in the northeast of the island. An apron, where planes could park, was also paved at the end of the construction.

In conjunction with the runway construction, Beijing has also undertaken a program of dredging and expansion of the Fiery Cross Reef. The expansion includes the construction and reinforcement of seawalls around the manmade port in the island’s eastern segment.

According to Jane’s, additional Airbus imagery shows that China is also dredging three new islands on the Subei Reef within the Spratly Islands. If these islands are connected, China could conceivably create and pave an additional 3,000-meter long runway. This is in addition to a recently constructed 3,000-meter runway at Woody Island, on the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.

JAY DIRECTO/AFP/GettyProtesters display placards during a rally outside China's consular office in Manila on April 17, 2015 against China's reclamation and construction activities on islands and reefs in the Spratly Group of the South China Sea that are also claimed by the Philippines.

The final construction of a runway at the Subei Reef is likely to antagonize the Philippines, as the reef is “only 25 km from Thitu/Pagasa island, which is occupied by the Philippines and has a civilian population,” Jane’s notes.

As of February 2015, Beijing has completed advanced stages of construction for six different island reefs throughout the sea with construction starting on a seventh, according to Reuters

The islands will serve as forward operating bases for the Chinese military. Once construction is complete, Beijing will be able to use the bases to project their military force throughout the South China Sea.

“China appears to be expanding and upgrading military and civilian infrastructure — including radars, satellite communication equipment, antiaircraft and naval guns, helipads and docks — on some of the man-made islands,” the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated in a staff report from December 2014.

The expansion of Chinese construction in the South China Sea is kicking off a series of territorial disputes with Beijing’s neighbors in the south, all of whom also have competing maritime claims to the reefs and islands.