Satellite imagery shows that China has completed the first phase of land reclamation and infrastructure development at Antelope Reef in the disputed Paracels archipelago in the South China Sea. The man-made island spans nearly 6 km, and the build-out is being read as a military consolidation.
The island has a helicopter pad, a 680-metre wharf fronting a deep-water harbour, and a 3-km straight coastline that analysts identify as a potential military runway.
China has not officially acknowledged building a new military base. It describes development in the area as serving civilian purposes such as weather forecasting and scientific research.
Security experts assess that Antelope Reef will help create a protected ocean 'bastion' for China's nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines. Such a bastion would shield the submarines from US and Vietnamese naval operations without exposing them to the Western Pacific.
Vietnam claims the entire Paracels grouping. China has held de facto control over the archipelago since 1974, when it expelled the navy of the former South Vietnam in the Battle of the Paracel Islands.
The South China Sea is one of the world's most contested maritime zones, with overlapping claims by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. The 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Tribunal rejected China's expansive Nine-Dash Line claims. It held that claims to historic rights beyond the maritime entitlements permitted under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) have no legal basis.
More than 55% of India's maritime trade transits through the South China Sea and the Malacca Strait. Greater militarisation and the potential for Chinese chokeholds pose a direct threat to the safety and security of global Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs).
China's naval consolidation in the South China Sea also acts as a springboard for its Maritime Silk Road. Securing its eastern flank allows China to project greater naval power into the Indian Ocean, which challenges India's traditional role as the net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region.
With reference to the Antelope Reef build-out in the Paracels, consider the following statements:
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Consider the following statements:
Statement-I: The Antelope Reef build-out is assessed as helping China create a protected ocean 'bastion' for its nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines.
Statement-II: Such a bastion would shield the submarines from US and Vietnamese naval operations without exposing them to the Western Pacific.
Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?
How many of the following statements about the South China Sea dispute are correct?
Select the correct answer.
