China has adopted a more proactive strategy and tactics in the South China Sea following the 2012 standoff with the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal, according to a report in the Beijing News, citing a number of experts.
From the second half of 2012, following the monthlong standoff, China began expanding strategic deployment and intensified efforts to better protect its maritime sovereignty claims in the region, said Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, a government thinktank.
This is evident in the building of lighthouses on North Reef in the Paracels as well as Antelope Reef, Drummond Island, South Sand and Pyramid Rock, Wu said. The Paracels are contested between China and Vietnam (and also claimed by Taiwan, which maintains the same claim as China to the entirety of the South China Sea).
Although the Chinese government said its decision to build the facilities is aimed at facilitating fishing and navigation, the setting up of structures on an uninhabited island or reef strengthens claims to the exercise of control and thence sovereignty.
Read the full story at Want China Times