While searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on March 11, 2014, a Philippine Air Force plane flying over the Kalayaan Island Group in the West Philippine Sea sighted Chinese reclamation activity in the Mabini Reef within the 200 mille Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Philippines.
According to the report of the Associated Press, the reclamation project has turned the submerged reef and a sandbar of the Mabini Reef into a 30-hectare landmass that transformed the submerged coral outcrop into an islet. An aerial photo taken of the reclamation effort showed a dredging ship in the area used to suck soil and other solid materials from the surrounding areas to pour into the reclaimed area.
Johnson Reef, called Mabini by the Philippines, at the Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea. AP FILE PHOTO
Aerial photo of Mabini Reef taken on March 11, 2015.
While Philippine officials have noted with alarm that China’s occupation of islets and reefs within the Philippine EEZ such as Panganiban Reef (Mischief Reef), Kagitingan Reef (Fiery Cross Reef), Calderon Reef (Cuarteron Reef), Zamora Reef (Subi Reef), and Gaven Reef, the massive land reclamation now occurring in the Mabini Reef marks a major escalation of China’s creeping invasion of the Philippines.
It is a game changer.