China Reform Monitor: No. 1135

November 20:

New satellite imagery reported by IHS Jane’s shows that China is creating a new island 9850 feet long and 985 feet wide at Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands to support a runway and apron. Dredgers are also creating a harbor large enough for warships. The reclamation project on the tiny reef 500 miles from China would enable the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy to land military aircraft there. Over the past year, China has created at least three new islands by moving sand onto reefs and shoals. The new isles can serve as bases for Chinese surveillance and as resupply stations for the PLA. The dredging operations at Fiery Cross are by far the largest. Meanwhile, during the PLA-hosted Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, China’s vice foreign minister Liu Zhenmin showcased Beijing’s new regional security concept “Asia for Asians,” by saying, “Asian countries bear primary responsibility for the security of their region.”

China and Nigeria have signed a $12 billion contract construction contract to build a 1402 km railway along the African country’s coast, China Railway Construction Corp. Ltd. (CRCC) said. The official China Daily reports that the 22-stop railway linking Lagos in the west with Calabar in the east at speeds of up to 120 km per hour is “China’s single largest overseas contract project.” CRCC chairman Meng Fengchao said, the project will “adopt Chinese technological standards and result in equipment exports worth $4 billion, such as construction machinery, trains and steel products.” CRCC president Zhang Zongyan said that the company is undertaking market studies with an eye toward “playing a more significant role in Africa.”

November 25:

Thailand has approved an MoU with China on the development of the Nong Khai-Map Ta Phut dual-track electric rail route estimated to cost about 400bn baht ($12.2 billion). China will play a lead role in developing the railway stretching 734km from Nong Khai, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Kaeng Khoi, Saraburi to Map Ta Phut, Rayong, on the Eastern Seaboard. Another 133km section will link Bangkok with Kaeng Khoi. The president of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Thai Transport Minister will head a joint committee to flesh out the project details. TheBangkok Post reports that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha concluded negotiations early this month when “China agreed to lend Thailand cash to construct three dual-track railways.”

November 27:

Beijing has called for Manila “to unconditionally release Chinese fishermen” convicted of poaching and taking hundreds of endangered giant sea turtles from Hasa-Hasa (Half Moon) Shoal in the Spratly Islands. On November 17, the Puerto Princesa City Regional Trial Court convicted the nine Chinese fishermen and ordered them to pay a fine of $100,000 each for poaching in Philippine waters, the Philippine Star reports. In May, the Philippine National Police Maritime Command intercepted the Chinese vessel 60 nautical miles from Palawan – an area included in China’s claims in the South China Sea. China claims that by sentencing the fisherman the Philippines has “seriously violated China's sovereignty and jurisdiction.”

November 29:

Local elections of 11,130 mayors, councilors and town chiefs in Taiwan saw big gains for the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has attacked the ruling KMT for forging closer economic ties with China. DPP mayoral candidates won in 13 of Taiwan’s 22 counties and major cities, up from a previous six, including the city of Taichung. DPP leader, Tsai Ing-wen, described her party’s success as the best in its history. Now more than sixty percent of Taiwan’s 23 million people have a DPP mayor. The results are a huge blow to President Ma Ying-jeou and will increase Beijing’s worries that the DPP might regain the presidency in the 2016 elections, the Economistreports.