China has built new military facilities on disputed islands in the South China Sea, suggesting that the friendly relationship Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping kindled at their April summit has not convinced China to change its maritime course.
Over the past three months, China has built four new missile shelters on Fiery Cross, boosting the number of installations on the contested reef to 12, according to satellite images provided to the Financial Times by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
China has also expanded radar facilities on Fiery Cross and two other disputed reefs — Subi and Mischief — in the Spratly Island chain, and started building underground structures that Greg Poling, AMTI director, assesses will be used to store munitions.