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Satellite imagery purportedly shows bulldozers clearing the way for runway grading preparation on Subi Reef in the South China Sea on Sept. 3, 2015.

Satellite imagery purportedly shows bulldozers clearing the way for runway grading preparation on Subi Reef in the South China Sea on Sept. 3, 2015. (Courtesy of Victor Robert Lee)

Satellite imagery purportedly shows bulldozers clearing the way for runway grading preparation on Subi Reef in the South China Sea on Sept. 3, 2015.

Satellite imagery purportedly shows bulldozers clearing the way for runway grading preparation on Subi Reef in the South China Sea on Sept. 3, 2015. (Courtesy of Victor Robert Lee)

Subi Reef, as shown by a satellite image taken Sept. 3, 2015. China appears to be preparing to build a military-capable runway on the reef, which is also claimed by several of the nation's neighbors.

Subi Reef, as shown by a satellite image taken Sept. 3, 2015. China appears to be preparing to build a military-capable runway on the reef, which is also claimed by several of the nation's neighbors. (Courtesy of Victor Robert Lee)

China appears to be grading land for a runway on a second artificially built island in the South China Sea in a move that could further bolster its ability to defend several heavily contested islands in the region.

Grading at Subi Reef appears to be about 7,200 feet long and 200 feet wide, according to Digital Globe satellite imagery captured Sept. 3 and acquired by author and journalist Victor Robert Lee. Subi Reef, which lies about midway between the Philippines and Vietnam but is controlled by China, is claimed by all three nations and Taiwan.

During the past year, China has added land to several disputed reefs, rocks and islets in the sea’s Spratly Islands, a move condemned by the United States and multiple nations in the Asia-Pacific region.

The grading appears unfinished and could ultimately run another 3,300 feet, Lee said. If it does, it would equal the length of the runway at Fiery Cross Reef, about 100 miles southwest of Subi.

In May, a Navy P-8 surveillance craft flew with a CNN crew near Fiery Cross, over what the U.S. considers international airspace. A Chinese dispatcher told the plane to “please go away.” The Navy plane instead asserted its right to freedom of overflight.

China maintains an ambiguous claim to 90 percent of the South China Sea, including waters and airspace the U.S. considers part of the global commons, free to both navigation and surveillance.

South China Sea shipping accounts for more than $5.2 trillion in annual global trade, according to recent estimates.

During the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore in late May, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter called for a moratorium for all nations on island building in the sea. Soon after, China announced it had finished artificially adding to its claimed islands, but that it would continue construction on top of them. At the time, satellite imagery of some islands showed self-propelled howitzers, radar stations and barracks buildings.

At the same security summit, Adm. Sun Jianguo, the Chinese military’s deputy chief of staff, said China would set up an Air Defense Identification Zone if it felt its air and sea security were threatened in the South China Sea.

China declared a similar zone over the East China Sea and the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands — which China claims — in 2013. The U.S. has not abided by China’s unilateral declaration.

An ADIZ declared over the South China Sea would be far more contentious, given various overlapping claims over the sea of China, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia.

China’s new runways may be a step in that direction.

“As pointed out by analysts, these military facilities and others newly constructed by China in the Spratlys would increase Beijing’s capacity to enforce an Air Defense Identification Zone in the South China Sea, if it were to declare one, and will significantly improve the (Chinese navy’s) capacity for anti-submarine warfare in a region where submarine threats are particularly viable,” Lee wrote.

slavin.erik@stripes.com

Twitter: @eslavin_stripes

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