Kuala Lumpur--China's creation of new island footholds in contested seas will hover over a Southeast Asian summit that has become an annual test of the region's nerve in standing up to its massive neighbour.
The South China Sea hot potato drops this year into Malaysia's lap as the rotating chair of the 10 member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and host of Monday's meeting.
ASEAN states Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei claim parts of the strategic South China Sea, but Beijing claims nearly all of it and has moved aggressively to back that up.
Satellite photos that emerged this month triggered alarm bells by providing fresh evidence of large-scale reclamation works on contested reefs, which suggest that land masses big enough for airstrips and other large facilities are being created.
"It's a very significant escalation. We haven't really seen anything on this scale ever," said Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
"We are talking about construction of significant military and civilian facilities and infrastructure."
AFP
