China 'begins sea scanning' surrounding Taiwan amid growing fears of an invasion
dailystar.co.ukmilitary presence.About £3.7 trillion ($5 trillion) of international trade is passed through the South China Sea yearly and includes the oil that fuels the economies of Japan, China and South Korea.There are also territorial reef claims in the area, with The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei claiming some small islands and reef locations.Since 2014, Beijing has strengthened its hold on the entire area by concreting over reefs to build military airports equipped with radar, missiles and aircraft.China had announced new "research stations" during the pandemic that would be placed on Fiery Cross Reef and Subi Reef.The two geographical features were changed into stationary aircraft carriers with satellite photographs showing that the People's Liberation Army had built runways and radar.The Times reported that the two new carriers were also capable of deploying offensive weapons such as combat aircraft and mobile missile launchers. For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.Other claimant countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia have, in the past, drilled for oil and natural gas in areas of the South China Sea.China responded to these survey operations with competing operations of their own, hurrying to those areas to carry out their own vessel operations.There are fears China is watching Russia's invasion of Ukraine with a view to performing a similar move on Taiwan.
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