China announces completion of two Sansha reef lighthouses

The Chinese maritime safety authorities said construction work on two lighthouses in the South China Sea near Sansha, Hainan Province has been completed, media reported on Friday.

Construction work on the two lighthouses finished on Wednesday and they can stand up to gale-force winds, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.

The lighthouses are six meters high and the light is visible up to five nautical miles away.

Analysts said it is necessary to build public facilities in the area because visual aids to navigation services have been absent, which has directly affected government work of management and safety supervision.

"The water often has big waves and low visibility, particularly during poor weather," Wang Xiaopeng, an expert in maritime and border studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday.

"Since there has been a rapid development of shipping and fisheries in Sansha, a navigation service is vital to the area and will act as a boost to the industries," he noted.

The South China Sea is a vital waterway for international transportation and one of the most important fishing grounds in the world.

According to Xinhua, the Chinese government will continue carry out geological and geomorphological investigation in the area and collect related sample to prepare for the next lighthouse construction.

Philippine on Monday criticized another lighthouses built by China on the Nansha Islands which started operation on October 10.

It charged that the lighthouses were covert means of enforcing China's claims to the disputed waters.

Spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Hua Chunying said on Tuesday that the construction is aimed at better serving coastal nations in the South China Sea and passing vessels from around the world.

She stressed that "these actions do not change the status quo there."

Hua reiterated that China's construction completely falls within its own sovereign territory.
   By Yuen Yeuk-laam
   Source: Global Times
24/10/15
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