How China's Dredging Ships Have Upended The Geopolitical Balance In South-East Asia

Andrew Browne, Wall Street Journal: How China Upstaged U.S. With a ‘Great Wall of Sand’

As verdict nears on Beijing’s territorial claims, Chinese dredging has altered geography of the South China Sea

SHANGHAI—Armed only with a set of revolving teeth, the Tian Jing Hao, Asia’s largest dredger, has pulled off a stunning naval upset.

Under the noses of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, this Chinese vessel led a civilian armada that built almost 3,000 acres of land atop submerged reefs in the Spratly Islands, altering a strategic balance that has held since the great naval battles of World War II established U.S. primacy in the western Pacific.

The construction began shortly after the Philippines challenged China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea by filing a case at a United Nations-backed tribunal in The Hague in January 2014. Now, on the eve of a legal verdict, China has achieved its objective: a new geography in the world’s busiest commercial waterway where China’s claims overlap with those of five neighbors.

However the five judges decide the case, China has permanently altered facts on the ground in its favor.

The seven Spratly outcrops on which it has built runways, docks, radar and other facilities give China the ability to project new military force in its contest with America for regional mastery.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: I suspect that we have seen nothing yet. There are more islands to reclaim, and China (contrary to earlier announcements that they have stopped their reclamation projects) appears ready to continue building. The real test is what will happen when the other countries in the region escalate doing the same thing .... matching China in reclamation projects. Currently the other countries in the region have reclaimed a few islands .... but the Chinese projects dwarf what Vietnam, the Philippines, and other South-East Asian countries have done (so far). This (I predict) will change .... and the real question that needs to then be answered is .... what will China do next.