The pace of island-building in China’s so-called “Blue Territories” is frenetic. Janes has reported that the island at Fiery Cross Reef is now 3,000 metres long. There are five dredges going at once to dig out the harbour and provide material for the island-building. So Fiery Cross Reef will be the site of an airfield which can enforce an ADIZ over the southern end of China’s claim to the South China Sea. Page 248 of the recent Report to Congress of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission has the following map of current Chinese base-building in the South China Sea: But what are the other islands being dredged into existence for, and why those particular islands? The answer is provided by the base the Chinese built on Subi Reef. It has a large, elevated radome, probably hosting a surface wave radar.  These radars can see around the curvature of the earth and are good for up to 200 km, as per this graphic: The...(Read Full Article)