China’s defence chiefs have built huge bases in the South China Sea as they look to establish control over the disputed region. The Chinese Government has attempted to assert its country’s authority over 90 percent of the South China Sea with its Nine-Dash line claim. The waters are hotly contested because of its lucrative shipping lanes, capacity for military strategic advantages and wealth of natural resources such as oil and minerals. Branded “island fortresses” by some experts, China has engulfed the South China Sea with man made island bases.
The islands boast runways, hangars, control towers, helipads and radomes as well as a series of multistorey buildings that China has built on reefs.
But experts have highlighted that, despite Beijing’s ambitious militarisation in the South China Sea, its bases are vulnerable.
Naval and Merchant Ships, a Beijing-based magazine published by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, which supplies the Chinese military, admitted the weaknesses.
They said: “Islands and reefs in the South China Sea have unique advantages in safeguarding national sovereignty and maintaining a military presence in the open sea, but they have natural weaknesses with regard to their own military defence.”
The magazine report warned that the bases would have “very limited” anti-strike capabilities.
It continued: “Island shelters lack vegetation, natural rock and soil and other coverings, and the altitude is low, while the groundwater level is high.
“Personnel and resources cannot be stored underground for a long time.”
Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst in defence strategy and capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, also highlights that the conditions in the South China Sea have contributed to problems Beijing’s military could face.
He added: “The harsh environmental conditions in the South China Sea — salt water corrosion, poor weather — make it almost impossible to deploy anything on the islands in a manner that could allow them to defend these bases.
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He said: “On the one hand they are saying ‘we will not allow China to dominate the region’, but on the other hand they are also saying ‘we won’t be responsible for the security of others because we have been paying too much over the years, we have been fighting too many wars’.
“So what this has left is doubt in the region. ‘Will America ever step in if there is ever a serious issue?’
“This is important to countries like Taiwan who are really vulnerable to Chinese aggression.”