Satellite Image Of The Lingshui Military Airfield On The Southeastern Coast Of Haina (Photo : Getty Images)
Tensions with its Asian neighbors over disputed islands in the South China Sea would not prevent the engineering firm tasked to build a modern hospital in Fiery Cross Reef from completing the medical facility in the later part of June.
Xinhua News Agency reported that according to Wang Zhiguang, party chief of the project at First Harbour Engineering Company, once completed, the facility would have an area of 16,000 square meters. Construction begun in November 2015, involving 500 engineers and construction crew.
The hospital would be able to offer consultations to island residents with mainland medical experts using remote telecommunications to diagnose and treat patients, even for major surgeries or rare ailments.
Besides the medical facility, China built on the reef, which it calls Yongshu Reef, a farm which raises 68 pigs, part of the 500 livestock on the fake island. According to Defenseone, also on the farm are chicken geese, vegetable garden and fish pond spread over 4,000 square meters of land. Also being built are gateway infrastructure such as beacons and airstrips.
Amid conflicting claim on the disputed islands with Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, China rushed the building of three lighthouses on Cuarteron Reef, Johnson South Reef and Subi Reef in 2015. It is constructing two more lighthouses on Mischief Reef and Fiery Cross Reef. The five reefs are man-made islands.
The basis of China in claiming 80 percent of the islands on South China Sea is the “nine-dash line” drawn on a map in the 1940s that it lodged informally with the U.N. in 2009. The Philippines questioned the nine-dash line’s legality with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. The court expects to issue a decision soon.
