THITU ISLAND, South China Sea--Philippine military chief General Gregorio Catapang looks worried as he surveys the rusted cranes and eroded runway on the tiny island of Thitu, now on the front line of a rapidly intensifying construction war in the South China Sea.
Fewer than 48 kilometres (30 miles) away, China's giant construction cranes glint on the horizon, a sign of the Asian giant's reef-building frenzy in the disputed Spratly chain that has seen new islands appear seemingly overnight.
As China and fellow rival claimant Vietnam race to pave over reefs and build structures in the strategically important sea, the Philippines stands out as a laggard.
The 356 residents of the remote Manila-held coral outcrop of Thitu fear they will soon be forced out by China's aggressive land grab, in a conflict fought, so far, with dredgers and cement.
"Before we landed we saw the reclamation in the (nearby) Subi Reef and it's really enormous," Catapang said on a tour of the island's largely decrepit facilities. An old navy transport ship lay half-submerged in waters off the coast, with two anti-aircraft guns the only visible defences.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters approaching the coasts of its Asian neighbours, and in recent years it has caused alarm with increasingly aggressive actions to assert its claims and increase its presence.
The Spratlys, an archipelago of more than a hundred islands, reefs and atolls between Vietnam and the Philippines, is one of the most hotly contested areas because of its strategic military importance.
The United States last week sounded the alarm, accusing China of building up to 800 hectares (2,000 acres) of artificial islands in the Spratlys, and warning it could construct airfields, surveillance systems and harbours that would jeopardise regional stability.
Alarmed at the Chinese activity, other Spratlys claimants have not been idle. Vietnam is reported to be reclaiming land in two areas, while Taiwan and Malaysia have announced plans to improve their naval facilities.
The Philippines, which occupies nine islands or reefs in the chain, in contrast has done very little -- partly because of funding constraints, but also because it is pinning its hopes on having the United Nations mediate the dispute.
AFP
