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WORLD NEWSMonday 7 December 2015
New China airstrips a potential headache for neighbors, US
C. BODEEN forces, said Euan Graham, build or what their purpose ellite photos collected by claims.
Associated Press director of the Internation- would be, repeating only U.S. government agencies Those perceptions were re-
BEIJING (AP) — China’s al Security Program at the that all military infrastruc- and private groups includ- inforced with the deploy-
campaign of island build- ment in October of ad-
ing in the South China Sea Protesters display placards during a rally at the Chinese Consulate at the financial district of vanced J-11BH/BHS fight-
might soon quadruple the ers of the navy air force
number of airstrips avail- Makati city, east of Manila, Philippines to protest moves by China in “fortifying” its claims at the to Woody Island that was
able to the People’s Lib- revealed online in China in
eration Army in the highly disputed Spratlys Islands in the South China Sea. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) October. China’s military
contested and strategi- has declined to comment
cally vital region. Lowy Institute in Sydney, ture was “purely for defen- ing the Washington-based on the reports.
That could be bad news Australia. sive purposes.” Center for Strategic and The island’s 2.4-kilometer
for other regional con- As with most South China Beijing claims almost all of International Studies. (1.49-mile) long runway
tenders, especially the Sea developments, China the South China Sea and While China insists its island will soon be eclipsed by
U.S., the Philippines and has remained opaque its islands and has created building works are justi- one more than 3 kilome-
Vietnam. about its plans for the is- seven new features in the fied and don’t constitute ters (10,000 feet) long on
The island construction land airstrips. At a recent Spratlys since last year that a threat to stability, further the reclaimed island built
work that is creating vast monthly briefing, Defense are permanently above militarization of the region atop Fiery Cross Reef in
amounts of new acreage Ministry spokesman Wu water totaling more than seems assured given Chi- the Spratlys, the satellite
by piling sand on top of Qian declined to say how 800 hectares (2,000 acres) na’s increasingly robust photos show. Another run-
coral reefs is now mov- many China planned to in area, according to sat- assertions of its territorial way is being built on Subi
ing into the construction Reef, with signs of similar
stage, with buildings, har- work underway on nearby
bors and, most important- Mischief Reef.
ly, runways appearing in Patrols by fighter jets
recent months. based on the islands, most
China now operates one likely temporarily given the
airfield at Woody Island in salty climate and frequent
the Paracel island chain, storms, could serve to in-
and satellite photos show timidate other claimants,
what appears to be work especially the Philippines
on two, possibly three, ad- and Vietnam. That could
ditional airstrips on newly also complicate regular
built islands in the Spratly operations by U.S. forces
archipelago to the east. which insist on freedom of
The bases could have a navigation and overflight
“significant impact on the over the entire sea.
local balance of power” “In periods of tension, the
by helping bolster the for- intimidation value of air
ward presence of Chinese patrols from the islands
coast guard and navy would be considerable,”
Graham said.
Azerbaijan: 29 still missing from burning oil platform The airfields would allow
Chinese aircraft to refuel,
AIDA SULTANOVA for bodies of the missing oil body of one of the work- pected to happen Mon- repair and if necessary,
Associated Press workers. SOCAR said notic- ers who had been in that day morning. SOCAR’s first rearm without having to
BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — es were sent to the border lifeboat and saved three vice president, Khoshbakht fly the more than 1,000 ki-
Azerbaijan’s state oil com- guard services of Iran, Ka- other workers, the com- Yusifzadem, said the com- lometers (620 miles) to the
pany SOCAR said Sunday zakhstan, Russia and Turk- pany and emergency ser- pany was working with nearest Chinese air base
that it was still searching for menistan. vices said. In all, 33 workers Azerbaijan’s emergency on Hainan island, said
29 workers missing after a The missing workers were were rescued. SOCAR said services to search for the 29 Hans Kristensen, a China
fire swept through an off- on a lifeboat that toppled the platform in the offshore missing workers by helicop- security expert with the
shore oil platform. into heavy seas late Fri- Guneshli field was still burn- ter and ship. The Guneshli Federation of American
But in an acknowledgment day after the oil platform ing Sunday because it 10 platform, which went Scientists.
that they were unlikely to caught fire when an un- had reached one of the into operation in 1984, ser- They would also be highly
be found alive, the com- derwater gas pipeline was oil wells. The company first vices 24 oil wells and four vulnerable to bombing
pany asked the four other damaged in the storm. expressed hope that the gas wells, producing 920 in an actual conflict, al-
countries who share the A ship that had been sent fire would be extinguished tons of oil and 1 million cu- though their presence
Caspian Sea to search to help with the rescue by the end of the day, but bic meters (35 million cubic alone would require addi-
their own territorial waters operation recovered the later said it was now ex- feet) of gas per day.q tional planning and effort
by opponents.q
