Рет қаралды 655,117
Satellite images and videos taken in the South China Sea (Pacific Ocean) show China's military expansion, in an area claimed by Beijing but which is not recognized by the international community.
#VisualInvestigation
These are uninhabited sand reefs, claimed by China, but also Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan. Despite the UN alarms, Beijing has been asserting since 2009 its territorial ambitions in the South China Sea, in the Pacific Ocean. In 2021, China militarily occupies a dozen islets in the Spratley and Paracel archipelagos, sometimes located more than 1,000 kilometers from the Chinese coast.
On several of these islets, satellite images reveal an imposing Chinese military arsenal: long-range drones, warships and fighter planes, with a sufficient range of action to cover the entire disputed area, as well as the territories of neighboring countries.
This investigation also underlines the role of Chinese fishing boats, sometimes clustered by dozens near the reefs claimed by Beijing. Boats whose official documents from Beijing betray the real role: that of maritime militias in the service of Chinese expansion in this region. An expansion assumed and firmly supported since 2013 by Xi Jinping.