<< A Chinese outpost located in the waters off Johnson South Reef in the disputed South China Sea. (Internet photo)
To compete against Vietnam and the Philippines for sovereignty over the disputed Spratly islands, China is looking to build an artificial island in the South China Sea, according to China's nationalistic Global Times tabloid on May 25.
The artifical island, which will be built by the Shanghai-based China Shipbuilding Ninth Design and Research Institute (NDRI) Engineering, is likely to be constructed around the Johnson South Reef, part of the Spratly islands currently under Chinese administration.
Beijing has asserted it claim to the reef, known as Chigua Reef in Chinese. China claimed six small islands in the vicinity of the reef after a brief naval battle between Chinese and Vietnamese forces on March 14, 1988 in which more than 70 Vietnamese sailors died.
Read the full story at Want China Times