MANILA, Philippines—China continues construction on one of its occupied features in the West Philippine Sea, satellite images showed.
US-based tech firm Simularity’s South China Sea Rapid Alert Service on Tuesday (Feb. 16) released images of Panganiban (Mischief) Reef showing new developments since late 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Simularity identified changes in seven sites on Panganiban Reef. Images taken of an area marked as Site 1, for instance, showed it was still bare as of May 7, 2020. But on Feb. 4, 2021, images showed “construction of a permanent cylindrical structure 16 meters in diameter” which started in early December 2020. It appeared to be an antenna mount structure.
Images showing an area marked as Site 2, a new, large radome cover and possible fixed radar structure appeared and which were not there a year ago.
Areas identified as Sites 4 and 7, which previously had rectangular structures a year before, have been cleared as of Feb. 4, 2021.