China claims that its massive island building projects are for peaceful purposes. New York Times.

A construction site at Mischief Reef. New York Times/CSIS/Digital Globe. 

China is claiming that its massive island building campaign is for peaceful maritime purposes. New York Times. A spokesperson said that China was using the new islands for search and rescue, fishing, meteorology and other maritime uses. They deny that the new artificial islands will be used to push Chinese claims in the area. The spokesperson did confirm that the islands would be used for military purposes but did not elaborate on what those purposes would be. Many of the new islands are near the Spratly and Paracel Islands. China has had a long term dispute with Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, along with other claimants. The region containing these islands are rich in resources such as oil and natural gas and is a vital shipping corridor. 

My Comment:

China is full of it. These islands may have incidental peaceful uses but everyone knows what they are really for. First they have obvious military applications. In at least a couple of cases, airstrips are being built. Much like the Japanese and Americans did during World War II, China can use these islands as stationary aircraft carriers. That extends their strike range and gives them quite a bit of control over their territory. They can also station anti-ship missiles that could keep carrier strike groups far away from the Chinese coast. This solves, or at least reduces, the threats American aircraft carrier groups pose to China.

Of course, China will also use these new islands to push their claims in the Pacific ocean. Many countries are also claiming the same areas but when it comes to proving it, it helps to have actual boots on the ground, so to speak. Are China's claims more valid? I don't think it matters. All that matters is if people are willing to spend resources to shore up their claims and if they are willing to spill blood over it. It is very clear that China is willing to spend money and I am reasonably sure that they would fight for control of these islands. 

Will it come to war? I'd like to think that it would never come to that but China has been spending billions of dollars to modernize all branches of their military. They are also involved with border disputes with almost all of their neighbors. Some of these disputes have turned deadly in the past and they could do so again. China also desperately needs energy and control over trade. These islands is an answer to both problems. 

Of course going to war over a bunch of stupid islands is still not worth it. Since the United States is allied to many of the countries that China is antagonizing it is very possible that we would be drawn into a war as well. Since both China and the United States are both nuclear powers, any war between the two countries could be devastating. Even a short conventional war would have a massive effect on the world economy and nobody would end up winning. 

My guess is that China believes, correctly in my opinion, that the United States would not fight with our allies if it came to that. It would be very hard to "sell" a war against China to the American people and our current president is incredibly weak... My guess is that China is going to get what they want. They may well have to go to war against it but without U.S. assistance, their enemies will be crushed. Japan could at least give them a run for their money but the other powers in the region are basically a joke in terms of naval and aviation strength. 

Despite all of that I have to say that I am very impressed with China on a purely technical/engineering level. Building airstrips and artificial islands on reefs out in the middle of the ocean is a major accomplishment. Reclaiming land from the sea is nothing new, but the scale and relative difficulty of these projects is impressive. I'm sure it is costing them a pretty penny, but it is still quite an amazing feat.