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  • This is Fiery Cross island.

  • It's a little more than one square mile in size and it's

  • home to a Chinese military base.

  • There's a 10,000 foot airstrip, an

  • advanced radar station, a missile defense

  • system, and about 200 troops.

  • But the strangest thing about Fiery Cross Island

  • is that two years ago,

  • it didn't exist.

  • And neither did the six other Chinese

  • military bases that have been built on

  • man-made islands in the South China Sea.

  • If you look at this satellite image from

  • 2014, you can see huge Chinese ships

  • collecting around remote reefs in the Spratly

  • Islands. An archipelago in the South China Sea.

  • In this image, these ships are

  • rapidly pumping sand and rock up onto the

  • reef.

  • They're building islands.

  • And less than a year later, the Chinese had seaports

  • air bases and buildings on their new

  • islands and the world had taken notice.

  • We continue our look this morning on what

  • China does not want you to see the

  • superpower is reclaiming land in seven

  • spots in the South China Sea adding on

  • average more than three-and-a-half acres

  • everyday. With these islands times trying

  • to lay claim to one of the most

  • important areas of ocean in the world

  • the South China Sea.

  • The South China Sea

  • is incredibly rich in natural resources

  • 11 billion barrels of oil, 190

  • trillion cubic feet of natural gas and

  • ten percent of the world's fisheries.

  • Most importantly though, 30%

  • of the world's shipping trade flows through

  • here to the booming population centers

  • and economic markets of Southeast Asia.

  • It's an extremely important body of

  • water and right now five countries lay

  • claim to some part of it.

  • Now, most countries base their claim off the UN

  • Law of the Seas, which says a country's

  • territorial waters extend 200 miles

  • off their shore. An area called the exclusive

  • economic zone, or EEZ.

  • Countries have exclusive rights to all the resources

  • and trade in there EEZ. It's their

  • sovereign territory.

  • So for example, any oil that's found within

  • 200 miles off the coast of Vietnam

  • belongs exclusively to Vietnam.

  • But any area that isn't in an EEZ is regarded as

  • international waters and it falls under

  • UN maritime law which means everybody

  • shares it.

  • Now, every country in the South

  • China Sea region uses this 200-mile EEZ

  • threshold to determine its claims.

  • All except China. China argued they have a

  • historical claim to the South China Sea

  • dating back to naval expeditions in the

  • 15th century. And they mark it using a really

  • confusing border called the nine-dash line.

  • Following World War II, Japan who

  • had dominated the entire region, lost all

  • control of its surrounding seas. China

  • used the moment to claim the South

  • China Sea by drawing this imprecise

  • line on the map that encompassed ninety

  • percent of the South China Sea. It became

  • known as the nine-dash line.

  • When the UN established the 200-mile EEZ in 1973

  • China stuck to its own line, refusing to

  • clarify its boundaries and ignoring claims

  • by other countries. Now that brings us to

  • the Spratly Islands. It's a remote barely

  • inhabited cluster of islands currently

  • claimed by China, Vietnam, the Philippines,

  • and Malaysia. The Spratlys are both

  • geographically and symbolically at the

  • heart of South China Sea.

  • That's because any country that can

  • claim the Spratly islands can extend

  • their EEZs to include them and gain

  • exclusive rights to the surrounding

  • territory.

  • But it's really hard to legitimately claim uninhabited piles of

  • sand so a few nations have built small

  • buildings and ports on their claimed

  • islands and even stuck a few people

  • there. But China believes all the Spratly

  • Islands belong to them which brings us

  • back to why they're building islands there.

  • Installing military bases on

  • these new artificial islands took the

  • dispute to a whole new level

  • showing how China's potentially willing

  • to defend its claims with force.

  • Now this is about when the United States

  • took notice. While the US has no claim in

  • the South China Sea, it is the world's

  • lone superpower and uses its massive

  • Navy to defend international waters.

  • China sees the US presence in the area

  • as an encroachment in their backyard.

  • When a US destroyer ship sailed just 12

  • miles off the shore of one of China's

  • man-made islands and the Spratlys

  • China sent out their own destroyer and a

  • patrol boat as a warning.

  • China is building these islands in order

  • to increase control around the

  • surrounding waters. Using a strategy that

  • they've deemed "The Cabbage Strategy".

  • Where they surround a contested island with as many

  • ships as possible. In May of 2013

  • China sent several ships to Ayungin

  • shoal, which is just 105

  • nautical miles off the coast of the

  • Philippines, well within that 200 mile

  • EEZ. The Philippines has eight soldiers

  • stationed there. Like wrapping leaves

  • around a cabbage the Chinese sealed off

  • the Philippines access to Ayungin

  • Shoal with fishing boats, surveillance

  • ships, and navy destroyers creating

  • blockade so that the Filipinos can't

  • receive shipments of food and supplies.

  • By building their own man-made Islands

  • China's essentially building naval bases.

  • The more Islands they have the more ships

  • they can support and more territory they

  • can slowly take control of. And the

  • Chinese cautiously use the cabbage

  • strategy in the Spratly islands, taking

  • over contested territory but in small

  • steps avoiding the possibility of

  • igniting a bigger conflict. But the

  • disputes are intensifying. Countries are

  • now actively arresting trespassers in

  • waters that they claim and China could

  • go a step further. Since 2015 they've

  • threatened to declare an air

  • identification zone above the South

  • China Sea, declaring that all aircraft

  • that fly through it would need Chinese

  • permission. Now, publicly China insists

  • that their intentions are not

  • militaristic but their actions say

  • otherwise and it's heightening tensions

  • in the region

  • Steve Bannon who sits on the US National

  • Security Council and who is one of

  • President Trump's closest advisors is

  • almost certain that the US will go to

  • war in the South China Sea. "We're going

  • to war in the South China Sea, I was a sailor

  • there, a naval officer, we're going to war

  • the South China Sea in five to ten

  • years aren't we?"

  • "there's no doubt about it"

  • But for now the disputes remain only in

  • the legal and diplomatic realms that only

  • occasionally break into minor clashes. In

  • July 2016 the international court at the

  • Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines

  • who charged China with invading their

  • rightful territory in the South China Sea.

  • China dismissed the ruling and enforcement

  • of the law doesn't seem likely. Even from

  • the US who released a vague statement urging

  • the two countries to "clarify their

  • claims" and "work together to resolve their

  • disputes" which is another way of saying

  • "we don't really want to deal with this".

  • In fact, as the conflict escalates and

  • international courts get involved, the

  • US is stuck in a tricky position. On

  • one hand, they do not want to risk

  • provoking a conflict with China. But on

  • the other they want China to stop

  • bullying their allies in the region.

  • Up until now the US has managed the

  • situation by continuing to patrol through the

  • South China Sea.

  • It's also likely that the US would fly fighter

  • jets above the sea if China actually does

  • declare an air identification zone.

  • These are symbolic but effective ways of

  • keeping Chine in check while not

  • getting too involved in the details of

  • the conflict. So far the disputes in the

  • South China Sea have not become violent

  • but countries are starting to defend

  • their claims by increasing troop numbers,

  • weaponizing their territory and

  • provoking each other. It's a complex

  • situation that will continue to gain

  • international attention for better or

  • for worse.

This is Fiery Cross island.

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