New Isles in the South China Sea

THE Washington-based think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, on March 16 released photos of a chain of artificial islands, new buildings, sea walls, and construction equipment on the Spratly Islands' Mischief Reef in the South China Sea. Rapid construction only began recently as aerial photographs of the area last October, did not show any of the activities.

The construction work, which is evidently a Chinese government reclamation project, has set alarm bells ringing for neighboring countries that also have claims in the same waters, namely the Philippines and Vietnam. The United States, an ally of many Asian nations, says this construction work had increased concerns about the possibility of a military confrontation. US Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr, during a conference in Australia on March 31 said the construction of the 'Great Wall of Sand' had raised "tensions and the potential of miscalculations".