China operating ‘fully functional’ military base on Subi Reef

MANILA, Philippines — China now runs a fully functional military base on Subi Reef (Zamora) after years of unimpeded construction of military facilities there.

Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, the navy’s spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, confirmed that China has completed its construction of huge military structures, airstrips, and storage facilities in the feature, which is located outside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone but part of Pag-asa Island’s 12-nautical mile territorial sea.

“It is safe to assume that they have continued their maintenance and expansion little by little. As it is right now it is a fully functional military base with naval and airforce capabilities,” Trinidad said in an interview with GMA’s DZBB on Tuesday.

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Trinidad added that the military structures at Subi Reef are “not the ordinary facilities” as the Philippine Navy has spotted huge storage facilities believed to be stocked with fuel and weapons. 

Chinese naval forces, Chinese maritime militia and Chinese coast guard vessels, have been spotted entering the island, based on the Philippine Navy’s monitoring. 
 
Trinidad also confirmed that China was able to continue its maintenance and construction on Subi Reef and other features in the West Philippine Sea despite the 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling that voided its sweeping claim of nearly the entire South China Sea.

Besides its activities on Subi Reef, China has also built large military structures on Mischief Reef (Panganiban) and Mabini (Johnson South) Reef and smaller structures in four other features, Trinidad said.

China’s reclamation of Philippine islands has reached over 3,000 hectares, Trinidad added.

Short of risking conflict, Trinidad said the Philippines only recourse is to turn to the international community for help in enforcing the 2016 ruling, which deemed Subi Reef a low-tide elevation. This means that it disappears during high tide and has no maritime entitlement. 

“Our way forward is to bring this to the international community because this is part of the arbitral tribunal ruling. If we attempt to physically stop [the construction,] it could turn into conflict,” Trinidad said in a mix of English and Filipino. 

The military facilities on Subi Reef is one of several construction efforts China has sustained since 2013 as part of its massive dredging and artificial island-building campaign across the Spratlys Islands.
 
The Permanent Court of Arbitration, in its ruling, said Beijing’s artificial island construction and other activities within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone infringed on the Philippines’ sovereign rights.

The tribunal also held that China’s land reclamation and construction of artificial islands in the Spratly Islands inflicted “permanent, irreparable harm” to coral habitats there.