China Lands Test Flight in Disputed Island Chain

[Sully3]

Makes alot of sense of a military power like China to make these islands, only because Chinas hasn't got expansionist ideas unlike USA, Russia who need aircraft carriers all around the world to keep their assets safe and for any further wars, something that China has avoided for decades so aircraft carriers would be expensive and probably of no use to China. Hence why these islands for a mere $2 billion allows china to protect its sea channels by having their air force planes in these islands.

 

[Keel]

One of the problems with this dispute is that China denies there is one - the Chinese demand that all negotiations start from the point of opposing parties acknowledging all of China's present (and future, since China claims no boundary) territorial claims.

There are other airstrips built by other countries in the area which are not owned by China
there are over a thousand similar shoals reefs ...in SCS
We have just occupied a very small number of them. Other countries have the lion's share of the claims
We have just deployed one may be two oil drilling structures and already the US et al are crying earthquakes whereas there are over 300 oil drilling sites operating in the area as organised by the other claimnants who are co-operating with international companies for the exploitation

Yes our territorial boundaries have been drawn and declared, resolutely and absolutely

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[TaiShang]

2nd test flights performed at Nansha Islands
hina Daily, January 7, 2016

A Chinese aircraft lands on the newly constructed runway at Yongshu Jiao in China's Nansha Islands during a test flight on Wednesday.[China Daily]



China successfully carried out test flights of two commercial airliners on Wednesday at a newly built airfield in the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea.

The airfield will provide more routes for flights over the South China Sea, according to a government media release.

Insiders, who declined to be named, said the test flights were different from the one reported on Saturday. That flight aimed to test communication between the planes and the airfield, while Wednesday's were "real test flights".

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying confirmed on Saturday that China had finished building an airfield on Yongshu Jiao in China's Nansha Islands. It is the most southerly airfield in the country.

She said Saturday's test flight was intended to check whether the runway met civilian aviation standards.

Xinhua News Agency reported that two civilian aircraft departed from Haikou in Hainan province on Wednesday morning and landed on Yongshu Jiao after flights of nearly two hours. They returned to Haikou in the afternoon.

The official media release by Xinhua said, "The test flights proved that the airfield has the capacity to ensure safe operation of large civilian aircraft."

This will help with the transportation of goods and personnel as well as with healthcare on the islands, it said, adding that the airfield will also serve as an alternate one for flights in the region.

Pan Wei, chief engineer at China Rescue and Salvage under the Ministry of Transport, said the airfield will significantly cut travel time between the Nansha Islands and the Chinese mainland.

Pan said the airfield will help to ensure flight and navigational safety for airplanes and ships in the area and greatly improve the ability of marine salvagers.

As a responsible country, China will continue to promote the building of emergency response and rescue facilities, Pan said.

It will shoulder the international obligations of search and rescue operations, marine environmental protection, disaster prevention, and navigational safety in the South China Sea.

Nearly 40 percent of global trade is carried through the South China Sea, which sees the passage of at least 40,000 ships annually.

Vietnam and the Philippines have protested over the new airfield's completion. But Hua said on Saturday the test flight that day was completed "completely within China's sovereignty".