Hixson 1

Ian Hixson

Mr. Phillips

English III

08 May 2017

Chinas Artificial Islands

Has one heard that World War III might start in the South China Sea? A war could

commence because China has been placing weapons on man-made islands, which are in the

backyard of the Philippines and Vietnam. China, one of the top three world powers, has been

building artificial islands on reefs in the South China Sea for the purpose of gaining land. The

Chinese claim these natural islands as their own territory even though the islands are not theirs

and are claimed by other countries. Also, China militarizes the islands which causes more

problems. Multiple times recently, China has told the press they will not stop building the

islands. Many countries such as the United States, the Philippines, and Vietnam to name a few

and an international court see island claiming and building and hence, view the building of them

as wrong. What are the impacts of China building artificial islands in the South China Sea? The

impacts of China building the islands are affecting other countries, the environment, and the

economy.

In the South China Sea area, China is a much bigger and more powerful country than any

of its neighbors. One neighbor of China in the South China Sea is the Philippines. Recently, the

Philippines voiced its opinions that it cannot trust China, a country which does not seem to care

about how the Philippines see this issue. In an article by the Sydney Morning Herald, South

China Sea: Philippines quietly protests China's weaponry on artificial islands states the
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Philippines foreign secretary made a statement that the country must remain calm because China

has more power (Murdoch). Thus, we cannot engage in a war he said, adding but when there

are reports about a buildup of weapon systems in the area under our watch, we made sure that the

interests and rights of the Philippines are properly protected (Murdoch). How much longer can

the Philippines trust China with the militarization of the islands? In mid-April, Philippines

officials went to a disputed island to learn about the situation. In the article, Philippines Sends

Defense Chief to Disputed South China Sea Island, the New York Times described the hard time

that Philippines officials had getting to the islands,Even before the military C130 transport

aircraft reached Pag - Asa island, also known as Thitu, the Chinese challenged the flight at least

four times on radio as it passed through the region (Villamor). Therefore the action of the

Chinese trying to stop the Philippines plane shows that they do not want neighbors interfering

with their islands. Reuters stated in an article Philippines defense minister says China arms on

islands worrying, that the Philippines sent a message to the China assembly saying they would

like to cooperate with China on the islands. The Philippines foreign ministry sent a note verbale

to the Chinese embassy last month after confirming a report from the U.S. - based Center for

Strategic and International Studies about Chinas buildup in Spratlys (Mogato & Shepard).

Finally, one can not imagine that the Chinese will not cooperate with any country on the topic of

building islands.

Another impact is that the islands are negatively affecting the Vietnam and Chinese

relations. First, the Chinese island claiming and building creates tensions with Vietnam. In fact,

the Financial Times verified the impact in the article, Vietnam Steps Up Battle With Beijing in

South China Sea (London qtd in Peel). Jonathan London, a Netherlands Leiden University

expert on Vietnam said, For Hanoi and the Vietnamese, Beijings claims and its efforts to
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enforce through aggressive practices remain clear and present threats to national security and

sovereign interests (Peel). Additionally, Vietnam has always claimed these islands and China

has never shown interest in or made attempts to control them until recently. Of course, China is

even bringing in tourists to these islands so China can claim them as their own. Now, the

Vietnamese government and people feel very threatened by Chinas action with the islands. In

the same article by the Financial Times, Michael Peel reports that three years ago, China located

an oil rig within Vietnamese claimed waters. The oil rig set off many anti-Beijing protests in

Vietnam where mobs set fire to many Chinese factories and businesses. One Chinese oil rig in

Vietnamese-claimed waters caused a violent reaction with many Chinese businesses being

damaged. Imagine what could happen if there were a fleet of oil rigs and artificial islands in

disputed areas. China will make their own decisions about building the artificial islands despite

other countrys warnings or protests. In addition to the impact on the relationship with its

neighbors, the artificial islands also have an impact on the environment.

China is making these man made islands by digging up coral reefs and sand and then

dumping that onto shallow living reefs. This process kills all the local marine life and harms the

whole South China Sea ecosystem. This may not seem surprising when you look at the horrible

pollution in some Chinese cities. Because The Economist discussed the damage done to the coral

reefs from making the islands, it states, about 10% of the reefs in the vast Spratly archipelago to

the south of Hainan and 8% of those in the Paracel islands, between Hainan and Vietnam, have

been destroyed (How a Chinese Fishing Fleet Creates Facts on the Water). The same article in

The Economist claims the Chinese have destroyed a total of 22 square miles of coral in this

island making process (How a Chinese Fishing Fleet Creates Facts on the Water). If one does

the math, 22 square miles equates to 14,000 acres of reef destroyed. This is almost the size of
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three Umstead State Parks. After China has built many of these islands, the South China Sea

ecosystem will never be the same. Now that China has started militarizing the island, the U.S.

views on China will never be the same either.

These islands are clearly being militarized and countries are against it but China does not

care if China itself heats up the situation. Furthermore, in the article China Installs Weapons on

Disputed Spratly Islands by DW News, China was reportedly arming the islands, Chinese

weapon systems have been built on all seven of the artificial islands (China Installs Weapons on

Disputed Spratly Islands). If one is a leader of a country in Southeast Asia, then one probably

would feel threatened by what China is saying about the islands and what they are doing even

though China says no such thing as manmade islands in South China Sea according to an

article by the same title in Reuters (Blanchard). Satellite pictures show buildings on these islands

include air terminals, harbors, and other structures. Newsweek said all seven islands have lots of

land in the article How and Why China is Building Islands in the South China Sea (Ross). The

article explains the buildings on that land promote a higher focus and importance on military use

on the islands. If the Chinese keep making islands, they could make more buildings and locate

more weapons on them. The U.S. dislikes the islands and wants China to stop building them.

Recently specified in Why Asia Is Trembling Over a U.S.-China South China Sea Showdown

The National Interest detailed how the islands have become an issue between US and China. A

U.S. and China rivalry in the South China Sea is ringing alarm bells in Southeast Asian

countries, fears are on the rise as Trumps administration could balance this toward conflict.

(Heydarian). Tension has been building in Southeast Asia for quite some time and now countries

in the area are truly feeling it as it extends to the super power U.S.
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The US will likely not stay on the sidelines now that Trump is president and China sees

no problem with building them. Tyler Durden in the Zerohedge article US Aircraft Carrier

Group Begins "Routine" Patrols In Disputed South China Sea offered that China has had a very

long history of sea conflict with its neighbors. This statement makes it sound like China will

continue to have maritime conflict due to their history. The US decided to speak out on the

islands recently. Time magazines article Beijing Warns the U.S. to Act Cautiously Over the

South China Sea (Blanchard and Brunnstrom), White House spokesman Sean Spicer in his

comments on Monday signaled a sharp departure from years of cautious handling of Chinas

assertive pursuit of territorial claims in Asia. Spicer communicated that other countries should

not feel alone about the islands and what China is doing. If the US were to act militarily, this

would cause a ripple affect to the Philippines, Taiwan etc. If Trumps administration keeps up

the comments and threats, China may stop or slow down their building of the islands. On the

other hand, China may speed up their construction.

The overall thoughts of the Chinese is they see no negative in building the islands. China

does seem concerned about the relations with its neighbors and it sees no kind of environmental

damage whatsoever. In Chinas mind, they are reacting to other countries and their militaries

being active in the area. They believe they have the right to a defense of their claimed areas.

Rather than posing a risk to the economy of the South China Sea, the Chinese believe the new

islands will benefit the Chinese economy and the regional economy greatly.

The new islands will assist the Chinese in the work to find oil and natural gas, will help

improve safety of shipping lanes, and will help the security for the fishing fleets in the area. A

Voice of America article, discusses Beijings exploration for natural resources in the South China

Sea. Certainly, Beijing is looking for foreign contractors to help find oil and gas under the South
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China Sea (Stashwick). The islands will be there for emergency purposes if anything happens in

the exploration or on the drilling rigs once they are there. The islands will also act as points of

defense for the oil and gas fields. The Chinese view weapons on these islands very differently

than what others call militarization.

China has spoken many times saying the islands are not being militarized. The Diplomat

discussed that Chinas Foreign ministry responded to questions about the weapons in the region

as a simple response to actions by other countries militaries in the area (Stashwick). Fox News

(Gomez) reported on Chinas feelings about the visit made to a disputed island by the Philippines

recently. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang said China was greatly concerned

about and unhappy because of the island visit adding China deserves representation for its side of

the land. China believes the Philippines visit shows there may be no way to stop other countries

actions without some force. What would it take for any conflict to be avoided? Maybe no more

artificial islands but China has said nothing about stopping from either a military standpoint or

from an environmental standpoint.

From their standpoint, China sees no negative impacts to the environment from building

the islands. China believes they have everything about the ecology situation under control.

According to a Yale Environment article by Mike Ives The Rising Environmental Toll of

Chinas Offshore Island Grab, environmental measures for these islands have been put in place

by Chinas State Oceanic Administration and that the islands would eventually have facilities

that deal with environmental protection (Ives). The same article reports that the Chinese agency

declared, The impact on coral reef ecology is localized, temporary, controllable, and restorable

(Ives). The Chinese have also said because these reefs are restorable, there is nothing to worry

about. China keeps thinking the west is making up facts about environmental issues and is just
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criticizing China. For China, what is the worst that could happen to a few reefs within the sea?

Not much compared to the other impacts that the islands are having.

Chinas man made islands in the South China Sea have had major impacts on Chinas

neighbors, the environment, militarization of the region, and the regional economy. China has

quite a few ambitious ideas about these artificial islands. So far, other countries have not used

any military force. The islands could lead to a limited war in the near future if China were to

keep building more of them. Vietnam and the Philippines dont want to deal with any chance of

regional or global conflict. If the Chinese were to stop building the islands, the issue would

probably go away. However, this is a conflict that needs to be dealt with and taken seriously now

by the Philippines, Vietnam, China, and the U.S.

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Works Cited

Blanchard, Ben. China : 'No Such Thing' as Man-Made Islands . Reuters, Thomson

Reuters, 30 Mar. 2017, www.reuters.com/article/us-southchinasea-china-

idUSKBN1711BR. Accessed 6 May 2017.

Blanchard, Ben, and David Brunnstrom. China: Sovereignty Over Disputed SCS Islands

'Irrefutable'. Time, Time, 24 Jan. 2017, time.com/4646253/beijing-us-south-

china-sea/. Accessed 7 May 2017.

Gomez, Jim. Recent Developments Surrounding the South China Sea. Fox News, FOX

News Network, 24 Apr. 2017, www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/24/recent-

developments-surrounding-south-china-sea.html. Accessed 7 May 2017.

Heydarian, Richard Javad, et al. Why Asia Is Trembling Over a U.S.-China South China

Sea Showdown. The National Interest, The Center for the National Interest, 23

Feb. 2017, nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/why-asia-trembling-over-us-china-

south-china-sea-showdown-19548. Accessed 8 May 2017. Villamor, Felipe. US

Aircraft Carrier Group Begins

Ives, Mike. The Rising Environmental Toll of Chinas Offshore Island Grab. Yale

E360, Yale University, 10 Oct. 2016,

360.yale.edu/features/rising_environmental_toll_china_artificial_islands_south_c

hina_sea. Accessed 7 May 2017.

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Jennings, Ralph. China Seeks Foreign Help in Risky Work Finding Oil in Disputed

Sea. VOA, VOA, 20 Apr. 2017, www.voanews.com/a/china-seeks-foreign-help-

finding-oil/3816634.html. Accessed 7 May 2017.

Mogato, Manuel, and Christian Shepherd . Philippines Defense Minister Says China

Arms on Islands Worrying. Edited by Martin Petty and Clarence Fernandez,

Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 17 Jan. 2017, www.reuters.com/article/us-

southchinasea-philippines-china-idUSKBN1510NM. Accessed 7 May 2017.

Murdoch, Lindsay. Philippines Quietly Protests China's Weaponry on Artificial Islands.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 Jan. 2017, www.smh.com.au/world/south-china-

sea-philippines-quietly-protests-chinas-weaponry-on-artificial-islands-20170117-

gtsw60.html. Accessed 7 May 2017.

Peel, Michael. Financial Times. Subscribe to Read, 18 Mar. 2017,

www.ft.com/content/32abaea8-0924-11e7-97d1-5e720a26771b. Accessed 7 May

2017.

Ross, Eleanor. How China Is Building Its New Territory in the South China Sea.

Newsweek, 29 Mar. 2017, www.newsweek.com/china-south-china-sea-islands-

build-military-territory-expand-575161. Accessed 7 May 2017.

Stashwick, Steven. New Weapons on China's Artificial Islands Don't Violate 'Non-

Militarization' of South China Sea. The Diplomat, 30 Dec. 2016,

thediplomat.com/2016/12/new-weapons-on-chinas-artificial-islands-dont-violate-

non-militarization-of-south-china-sea/. Accessed 7 May 2017.

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Villamor, Felipe. Philippines Sends Defense Chief to Disputed South China Sea Island.

The New York Times, 21 Apr. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/world/asia/philippines-south-china-sea.html?_r=0.

Accessed 7 May 2017.

How a Chinese Fishing Fleet Creates Facts on the Water. The Economist, The

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bad-news-giant-clams-and-other-littoral-states-south-china-sea-how-chinese?zid.

Accessed 7 May 2017.

Routine Patrols In Disputed South China Sea. ZeroHedge, 18 Feb. 2017,

www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-19/us-aircraft-carrier-group-begins-routine-

patrols-disputed-south-china-sea. Accessed 7 May 2017.

(www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. China Installs Weapons on Disputed Spratly Islands.

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weapons-on-disputed-spratly-islands-report/a-36770667. Accessed 7 May 2017.