Beijing ‘will push ahead’ building in disputed areas of South China Sea

Vietnam and Philippines strengthened ties to counter China’s claims to contested waters unlikely to shift policy, say analysts

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Satellite images published by IHS Jane's Defence Weekly showing China's construction of an airstrip in reclaimed areas of a reef in the disputed Spratly Islands. China's neighbours in the South China Sea are alarmed by Beijing's build-up in the contested region. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Published: 3:45pm, 20 Apr 2015Updated: 3:47pm, 20 Apr 2015

Vietnam and the Philippines attempts to form a strategic partnership amid China’s increasingly assertive claims to areas of the South China Sea will not deter Beijing from beefing up its presence in the disputed waters, according to Chinese analysts.

China will, however, be wary of further antagonising neighbours in the region and driving them into closer partnerships with its strategic rivals the United States and Japan, they said.

The President of the Philippines Benigno Aquino said in an interview with the South China Morning Post last week that his country and Vietnam were working to strengthen ties and that he had become further alarmed about China’s construction of airstrips and other infrastructure on reclaimed land in the disputed waters.

Aquino angered Beijing last year after he said the world’s failure to support the Philippines in countering China’s expansionist ambitions in the South China Sea was like the West failing to come to the aid of Czechoslovakia against Nazi Germany in 1938.

Xu Liping, a professor studying diplomacy in Southeast Asia at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Beijing would not view any partnership between Hanoi and Manila as solid enough to challenge its position.

“Vietnam and the Philippines also have competing claims for sovereignty in the Spratly chain of islands in the South China Sea,” Xu said.

“Under such circumstances, it is difficult for Vietnam and the Philippines to form a strong, united front.”