Satellite Images Show China’s Expansion in the South China Sea

It has become a person who struggles with electricity between China and many countries, including the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan, for the control of twelve -disputed reefs, islands, and sandbars in the South China Sea.

Up to $ 5 trillion in goods were sent across the sea a year.

The problem is that China claims sovereignty over these artificial landmarks is illegal, according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLO).

Both the Philippines and China, as well as Taiwan and Vietnam, claim the reef as themselves. However, a UN tribunal was ruled in 2016 that no territory could claim it.

It did not prevent China from developing a wonderful military base there.

In recent months, many Chinese vehicles in the South China Sea have threatened to collide with Philippine ships in a region called Scarborough Shoal, north of the Mischief Reef.

Also in the Scarborough Shoal, a Chinese Navy helicopter that flew dangerously near, within 10 feet, a Philippine Patrol plane in February, AP reported.

Sandy Cay is not an underwater reef. The islands remain above the ground in high water, giving them legal status as a “stone” (or land surrounded by water) under the UNCLOS.

This means that anyone who deserves sovereignty can also claim 12 nautical miles of water around it, Poling said.

Both China and the Philippines claim Sandy Cay sovereignty, but it's not legal.

The photo-off on Sandy Cay is more than a stunt than a threat, Poling said.

However, if things rose in the South China Sea, especially in the Scarborough Shoal, the US had a fellow defense of the Philippines, who agreed to assist in the event in an armed attack. It had never been to that point and it was likely to be a deescalate before that, Poling said.

“It is illegally covered unless China can claim the territorial sea where it is sitting,” Poling said.

While China, Vietnam, and the Philippines are all pursuing reefs, China's military presence provides effective control.

However, China is no longer the only country that builds artificial islands in the South China Sea.

At 118 hectares, however, there is no closer to the size of some of China's development in mistakes, cries, and flaming cross reefs.

“The Philippines, Vietnam, even Malaysia and Indonesia have created a nice job holding a job,” Poling said, adding, “I think China only believes that it can surpass other claimants, and if it keeps continuous pressure rotation, they will eventually explode.”