Photos: Reuters, Planet Labs, AFP, US Navy
In an unprecedented campaign, #China in 2014 began dredging up sand from the ocean floor and building entirely new artificial islands on top of certain features in the #SouthChinaSea. Creating what one U.S. official called the “Great Wall of Sand,” China’s island-building campaign reclaimed over 3,000 acres of land in the Sea, irreparably destroying the marine environment in several spots and sparking a backlash from the six other claimants of the disputed territory.
The U.S. response to China’s drastic measures was largely in keeping with decades of policy precedent: to remain on the sidelines of disputes over the South China Sea, hoping to avoid thorny confrontations between claimants.
But over the past four years, Washington under the #Trump administration has taken a more confrontational stance against China over its activity in the sea. In July 2020, Secretary of State Mike #Pompeo issued the boldly worded statement that most of China's maritime claims in the South China Sea are "completely unlawful," and then in August of that year the administration imposed sanctions on state-controlled Chinese companies responsible for China’s “Great Wall of Sand.”
Despite the change in administration, observers and experts predict that President-elect Joe #Biden will likely continue on the new course against China’s maritime claims.
RFA
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