'We have lagged too far behind': China hits back at US calls to stop island project

State-run newspaper Global Times hit back on Monday to demands by Washington that China halt its reclamation projects in the disputed waters of South China Sea, urging the US to “stay out of it”.

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A satellite image showing China's construction on the Ferry Cross (Yongshu) Reef in Spratlys island.

Published: 7:45pm, 24 Nov 2014Updated: 9:07am, 25 Nov 2014

State-run newspaper hit back on Monday to demands by Washington that China halt its reclamation projects in the disputed waters of South China Sea, urging the US to “stay out of it”.

“The US is obviously biased considering that the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam have already set up military facilities,” the quoted General Luo Yuan, a hawkish critic of the US, as saying.

Last Saturday, a report from US information company IHS revealed that China has been dredging to create an island about 3,000 metres long and 200-300 metres wide on Fiery Cross Reef in the contested Spratly Islands. The reef, called Yongshu in Chinese, was previously underwater.

The island, shown in a satellite image obtained by IHS, will be large enough to accommodate China’s first airstrip in the Spratly Islands when completed.

“The land reclamation at Fiery Cross is the fourth such project undertaken by China in the Spratly Islands in the last 12-18 months and by far the largest in scope,” the report said, referring to a reef known to China as Yongshu.

A harbour is also under construction to the east of the reef, which appears to have the capacity for tankers and naval warships.