Special to WorldTribune.com

Satellite images show China will soon quadruple the number of airstrips it has on islands in the disputed South China Sea.

Currently, China has a 2.4-kilometer (1.49-mile) long runway on Woody Island in the Paracel chain. Recent satellite photos show an airstrip more than 3 kilometers (10,000 feet) long is near completion on the reclaimed island Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys. The photos show another runway being built on Subi Reef, with signs of similar work underway on nearby Mischief Reef.

Analysts say the airstrips could by used by China’s military to intimidate other claimants in the South China Sea, especially the Philippines and Vietnam and could complicate regular operations by U.S. forces in the region.

“In periods of tension, the intimidation value of air patrols from the islands would be considerable,” said Euan Graham, director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia.

Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea and its islands as its territory.

China Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian recently said the airstrips were “purely for defensive purposes.”

The belief of others with interests in the South China Sea that the airstrips are not just for “defensive purposes” were reinforced in October when Beijing deployed advanced J-11BH/BHS fighters to Woody Island.

“If we start to see satellite evidence of fuel storage going in on a large scale in the artificial islands, that will be the clearest indicator that China is planning to develop them as active air bases,” Graham said.

The airstrips will enable Chinese aircraft to refuel, repair and rearm without having to fly the more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) to the nearest Chinese air base on Hainan island, said Hans Kristensen, a China security expert with the Federation of American Scientists.

  China seen quadrupling number of airstrips on S. China Sea islands, Paracels, Spratlys, WorldTribune.com