Exasperation with the FONOP was probably heightened by the fact that the PLA Navy had cleverly conducted its own “innocent passage” exercise through the territorial waters of the Aleutian Islands in September 2015, thereby diminishing the consequences of a close sailby of Subi Reef as a cathartic piece of defiance against PRC aggrandizement in the […]
USS Lassen (DDG-82) is underway in the Philippine Sea in 2013. US Navy Photo Much has been made about the recent transit of the USS Lassen (DDG-82) within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef in the South China Sea. To review, that is because China has built an artificial island on top of Subi Reef, […]
Satellite imagery of Subi Reef in the South China Sea taken September 3, 2015 clearly shows subgrading for a runway. At a width of approximately 60 meters, the subgrading could support a runway equal in width to that recently constructed by China at Fiery Cross Reef. The current extent of subgrading at Subi is approximately […]
MANILA, Philippines – China is working double time on their reclamation projects in the South China Sea in order to complete their expansion agenda before the arbitration case is concluded, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Friday. “DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario has mentioned that these activities are now being hastened in anticipation of […]
MANILA, Philippines – China is carrying out land reclamation operations in not just one but a total of five areas in the disputed Spratly Islands well within the Philippine maritime zone. A confidential Malacañang report detailed the land reclamation activities of China in five areas, namely Johnson South (Mabini) Reef, Cuarteron (Calderon) Reef, Hughes (Kennan) […]