China builds military airstrip on disputed island

The newly built facility stretches across Woody Island, part of the Paracel chain, China’s Xinhua news agency said late Tuesday.

The Paracels are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan, and tensions between Beijing and Hanoi rose this year over Chinese construction and oil exploration there.

The runway is Beijing’s latest physical assertion of control in the area, two years after it declared a city named Sansha centered on Woody Island — known as Yongxing in Chinese — to administer vast swathes of the South China Sea.

China to deploy military garrison in S China Sea

GUANGZHOU – China’s central military authority has approved to form and deploy a military garrison in the newly established city of Sansha.

Sources with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Guangzhou Military Command said Friday that the Central Military Commission (CMC) had authorized it to form a garrison command in the city.

The garrison command will be a division-level command under the PLA’s Hainan provincial sub-command, responsible for managing the city’s national defense mobilization, military reserves and carrying out military operations.

The PLA’s Sansha Garrison Command will be under the dual leadership of the Hainan provincial sub-command and the city’s civilian leaders.

Full article: China to deploy military garrison in S China Sea (China Daily USA)