A U.S. technology company has analyzed satellite photos and found that the Chinese Communist Party is building a massive construction facility on Mischief Reef, with the intention of turning it into a military base. (Internet)
As the United States continues to send warships to the South China Sea on freedom of navigation missions to challenge the Chinese Communist Party’s sovereignty claims, several Western media quoted a report on the situation in the South China Sea by a technology company, saying that according to satellite photos, the Chinese Communist Party is building military facilities on the sovereignty-disputed Mischief Reef and intends to fully upgrade it into a military base.
According to the report, Simularity, a U.S. technology company, released a “South China Sea Rapid Alert Report” on Feb. 16 based on satellite photos showing that seven locations on the Chinese-controlled Mischief Reef, which is more than 100 nautical miles from Palawan Island in the Philippines, have changed significantly between May 7, 2020, and Feb. 4, 2021. noticeable changes.
These include a circular building foundation that began construction in early December of last year, after being an empty lot in May of last year; a new radome at another location on the reef; a new structure that appeared in October-November of last year; and satellite images from this year that also show the demolition of structures at some locations on Mischief Reef.
A comparison of satellite photos shows new circular structures on the island, suspected to be radar facilities. (Internet)
Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines’ Institute of Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, said in a recent CNN report that the Chinese Communist Party built a new radar facility on Meeji Reef as early as last October. He believes the new facility shows that the CCP has long-term plans.
Batongbacal told the Philippine media, “They [the Chinese Communists] are putting in additional observation equipment, obviously radar, and there are already a lot of radars on the reefs.” He added that the addition of the new radars shows that the CCP is enhancing the artificial islands, indicating that the real intention of the CCP is to turn them into “full-scale military bases.”
The Philippine Star reported in January 2016 that the Chinese Communist Party was building a submarine port of call on Mischief Reef.
Mischief Reef is now the largest island in the Spratly Islands. It is at the forefront of the Communist Party’s control of the islands, and has long been a point of contention in the South China Sea, as it is known as a “maritime outpost” of the Communist Party. The Philippines and Vietnam both claim sovereignty over Mischief Reef.
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