The Chinese government has been shipping large quantities of soil to Mabini Reef, also known as the Johnson Reef, one of the Philippine-claimed reef in South China Sea or the West Philippine Sea according to Philippines and U.S. military sources on Tuesday, May 13, 2014.
Military sources revealed in a news report posted by ABS-CBN and Kyodo News that China is on its way to enlarge the land area around Mabini Reef for security facilities. The sources noted that the Chinese government has been building permanent structures in the reef since the year 2012.
A Philippine military personnel was quoted as as saying that “”There’s an ongoing construction by the Chinese according to our intelligence reports,” he said. The personnel added further that the Chinese apparently plan to turn the reef into a military outpost according to the report posted by Kyodo News.
The news agency also obtained three pictures of the construction purportedly being undertaken by the Chinese military in the Johnson reef. The Chinese moves in the disputed maritime areas close to the Philippines comes amid rising tensions between China and Vietnam during the past few days.
During the ASEAN Summit held in Myanmar on Sunday, Philippine Pres. Benigno Aquino raised Manila’s concern over China’s sustained expansion in the South China Sea despite an existing agreement between China and ASEAN to halt operations in the area.
The Chinese Navy had already built structures in Mischief Reef, the Philippines only discovered the facilities last 1995, the reef is about 230 kilometers from Palawan. During the year 2012, China also occupied Scarborough Shoal, a large coral reef located at 230 km off the coast of Zambales Province.
The occupied territory of the Philippines is located within the country’s 200-nautical-mile, or 370 kilometers Exclusive Economic Zone.