More doubts over China's vow not to militarise South China Sea
New satellite images suggest the construction of what appears to be reinforced aircraft hangers for fighter-jets on the disputed Spratly Islands, casting doubts over China's vow not to militarise the South China Sea. The US Navy's Admiral Scott Swift is in Asia to address the Chinese media, following the arrival of a US Navy destroyer in the northern Chinese port of Qingdao on Monday, the first visit by an American warship since an international tribunal ruled against China's territorial claims in the South China Sea last month.

When President Xi Jinping of China visited President Obama at the White House last September, he startled many with reassuring words about his intentions for the Spratly Islands, a contested area where the Chinese government has been piling dredged sand and concrete atop reefs for the past few years and building housing and runways on them.

“China does not intend to pursue militarization,” Mr. Xi said, referring to the area as the Nansha Islands, a Chinese name for what most of the rest of the world calls the Spratlys in the South China Sea.

The most recent satellite photographs suggest a different plan. The photos, collected and scrutinized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based research organization, show the construction of what appear to be reinforced aircraft hangars at Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief Reefs, all part of the disputed territories.

There were no military aircraft seen at the time the photos were taken. But a summary of the center’s analysis suggests that the hangars on all three islets have room for “any fighter-jet in the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.”