China lands plane on artificial island

China's first landing of a plane on one of its new
island runways in the South China Sea shows
Beijing's facilities in the disputed region are being
completed on schedule and military flights will
inevitably follow, foreign officials and analysts
said.
China's increasing military presence in the
disputed sea could effectively lead to a Beijing-
controlled air defence zone, they said, ratcheting
up tensions with other claimants and with the
United States in one of the world's most volatile
areas.
Chinese foreign ministry officials confirmed on
Saturday that a test flight by a civilian plane
landed on an artificial island built in the Spratlys,
the first time Beijing has used a runway in the
area.
Vietnam launched a formal diplomatic protest
while Philippines Foreign Ministry spokesman
Charles Jose said Manila was planning to do the
same. Both have claims to the area that overlap
with China.
"That's the fear, that China will be able take
control of the South China Sea and it will affect
the freedom of navigation and freedom of
overflight," Jose told reporters.
In Washington, State Department spokesman
John Kirby said China's landing of the plane
"raises tensions and threatens regional stability."
Senator John McCain, the chairman of the
influential U.S. Senate Armed Services
Committee, criticised the Obama administration
for delaying further "freedom of navigation"
patrols within 12 nautical miles of the islands
built by China.
China has been building runways on the artificial
islands for over a year, and the plane's landing
was not a surprise.
The runway at the Fiery Cross Reef is 3,000
metres (10,000 feet) long and is one of three
China was constructing on artificial islands built
up from seven reefs and atolls in the Spratlys
archipelago.
The runways would be long enough to handle
long-range bombers and transport craft as well
as China's best jet fighters, giving them a
presence deep into the maritime heart of
Southeast Asia that they have lacked until now.
Chinese officials have repeatedly stressed that
the new islands would be mostly for civilian use,
such as coast guard activity and fishing research.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying
said at the weekend that the test flight was
intended to check whether the runway met civilian
aviation standards and fell "completely within
China's sovereignty".
However, military landings on the islands were
now "inevitable", said Leszek Buszynski, a visiting
fellow at the Australian National University's
Strategic and Defence Studies Centre.
An air defence zone, while unlikely soon, was
feasible and possible in future once China's built
up its air strength, he said.
"The next step will be, once they've tested
it with several flights, they will bring down
some of their fighter air power - SU-27s
and SU-33's - and they will station them
there permanently. That's what they're
likely to do."