Commentary
In the early 2010s, China started building a constellation of artificial islands in the Spratly Islands. At the time, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership promised not to militarize these islands.
That turned out to be a lie, and several islands were subsequently constructed with airstrips and harbors capable of accepting military aircraft and warships. In addition, these islands have been furnished with radar stations, anti-aircraft guns, anti-ship cruise missiles, and long-range surface-to-air missiles.
The Spratlys are a chain of mostly coral reefs in the eastern South China Sea that barely break the ocean’s surface. Still, they are adjacent to major sea lanes of communication (SLOCs) and to potentially lucrative maritime natural resources, such as fisheries and oil and gas deposits….