China’s efforts to create “facts on the ground” in the South China Sea appear to have entered a new phase, focused on building facilities — possibly military ones — on artificial islands, while ceasing land reclamation activities that have angered neighbours and the US.

For the past two years, Chinese high tech barges and dredgers have been funnelling sand off the ocean floor and piling it into roughly half a dozen rock and coral reefs to form more than 2,000 acres on new islands. Some experts believe that these will eventually be home to airstrips, harbours and military facilities aimed at buttressing an ambitious claim to almost the entire South China Sea.

China has repeatedly signalled that the dredging work was nearing completion, but has stayed silent about its next steps amid a series of contradictory statements, threatening military drills and international diplomacy.