Land Reclamation In South China Sea Will Be Completed Soon

By Niam Seet Wei BEIJING, June 16 (Bernama) -- China says the land reclamation project of its construction on some stationed islands and reefs of the Spratly Islands, known in Chinese as Nansha Islands will be completed in the coming days. "After the land reclamation, we will start the building of facilities to meet relevant functional requirements," the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement posted on its official WeChat account Tuesday. It reiterated the construction activities on the Nansha Islands and reefs fell within the scope of China's sovereignty, and were lawful, reasonable and justified. "They are not targeted at any other country, do not affect the freedom of navigation and overflight enjoyed by all countries, in accordance with international law in the South China Sea, nor have they caused or will they cause damage to the marine ecological system and environment in the South China Sea, and are thus beyond reproach," it said. It said, apart from satisfying the need for necessary military defence, the main purpose of China's construction activities was to meet various civilian demands and better perform China's international obligations and responsibilities in several areas. The areas included maritime search and rescue, disaster prevention and mitigation, marine scientific research, meteorological observation, ecological environment conservation, navigation safety and fisheries production. Satellite images released by a global information company, IHS Jane's Defence recently showed that China had used dredgers to construct an island about 3,000 yards (metres) long and 200-300 metres wide on the Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed water, which it described was "large enough to construct a runway and apron." --BERNAMA