Strange things are happening in the South China Sea. In the past 18 months, Beijing has reclaimed 2,000 acres of land, converting several submerged reefs and rocks into fully fledged “islands”. Beijing’s land-reclamation efforts have dwarfed those of other countries, notably the Philippines and Vietnam, which have rival claims to the nearby Spratly Islands. China is also constructing piers, harbours and multistorey buildings (though there is no Fifa football stadium yet). On Fiery Cross Reef, in the Spratly Islands, it has built a 3km runway capable of handling all the military aircraft at Beijing’s disposal.
南中國海正在發生一些奇怪的事情。在過去18個月里，中國通過填海造出了2000英畝土地，將數個暗礁和巖礁改造成合乎定義的“島嶼”。中國填海造島工程的規模遠遠超過其他國家，尤其是菲律賓和越南，這兩個國家也宣稱擁有鄰近的斯普拉特利群島（Spratly Islands，中國稱南沙群島——譯者注）主權。中國還在建設碼頭、港口和多層建筑物（盡管還沒有國際足聯規格的足球場）。在斯普拉特利群島的永暑礁(Fiery Cross Reef)，中國建造了長達3公里、可供中國各型軍機起降的跑道。