China has landed a military plane on the last of its three airstrips in the disputed South China Sea, a Washington-based research institution said, amid renewed complaints about the country expanding its military presence in the busy shipping lane.
The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said satellite images from April 28 showed the first confirmed deployment of a military aircraft — a Shaanxi Y-8 transport plane — on Subi Reef. The structure hosts one of three runways China has built as part of a dredging and reclamation operation in the Spratlys chain since 2013, and was the last of three where military aircraft had been observed.
“This should be particularly concerning to the Philippines,” the group, a unit of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said on its website. About 100 Philippine civilians and a small military garrison are stationed on the Thitu islet, about 12 nautical miles away from Subi.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t immediately respond Thursday to a faxed request for comment.
China claims more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, a $5 trillion-a-year shipping route where five other countries including the Philippines and Vietnam also have claims.
Regional concerns about China’s presence in the area re-emerged earlier this month after the foreign ministry confirmed reports that the People’s Liberation Army had installed missile systems on Subi, Mischief Reef and Fiery Cross, where it has military-grade airstrips.
Chinese military aircraft have previously landed on other Chinese structures in the Spratlys, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said. The first was a naval patrol aircraft — possibly a Y-8 — that landed on Fiery Cross in April 2016 to evacuate three people who had fallen ill. The Philippine Daily Inquirer last month published an aerial photo dated Jan. 6 showing two Xian Y-7 military transport aircraft on Mischief Reef.