China's Internal Assessment of South China Sea Artificial Island Military Bases: "Not Very Useful"

Chinese bomber flying over islands and reefs in the South China Sea. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Nah Ana] Despite strong opposition from countries involved in the South China Sea territorial disputes, China has created artificial islands in the area and militarized them. However, within China, there are negative assessments that these artificial islands would be of little use if actual combat were to occur.

The latest issue of the Chinese monthly magazine 'Navy and Merchant Ships,' published by China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), which builds Chinese naval vessels, evaluated that the artificial islands in the South China Sea are vulnerable to external attacks and are unlikely to contribute significantly to real combat missions, reported Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 6th.

According to the magazine, problems such as the great distance from mainland China, small size, limited runway capacity, and multiple possible attack routes were analyzed.

It also pointed out that although a runway has been installed on Fiery Cross Reef (Yongshu Jiao <永暑礁>) in the Spratly Islands (Chinese name Nansha Qundao <南沙 群島>, Vietnamese name Truong Sa Qundao), it takes more than 20 hours for naval vessels from the nearest base in Sanya (三亞), Hainan (海南), to arrive to support the artificial island militarily.

Meanwhile, since around 2015, China has been actively constructing artificial islands on various reefs and atolls in the South China Sea, claiming sovereignty, and militarizing them by installing runways and air defense weapons.

This year, China also deployed J-11B fighter jets and Hong (轟·H)-6J bombers for the first time on Woody Island (Chinese name Yongxing Dao, Vietnamese name Phu Lam) in the Paracel Islands (Chinese name Xisha <西沙> Qundao).