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Chinese base in Scarborough Shoal to come sooner or later, says analyst

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<figure class="op-interactive"><div id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1_Container"> <ivs-player id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-vid="1440147" data-ivs-floating="1"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/iframe-parent.js"></script> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script> </div></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="~//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="~//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>China may soon develop bases in Scarborough Shoal and deploy fighter jets to other military facilities it constructed in the South China Sea, a maritime expert said Friday.</p><p>&quot;The Chinese have built the bunkers, the shelters, the radar and signalling systems, intelligence facilities so it&#x27;s a matter of when they would decide to send in fighter aircraft, not if. It will be beyond naive to think they&#x27;re not going to do it. They did not build all of this so they can leave it empty,&quot; Gregory Poling, Director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, said in an interview on ANC&#x27;s Early Edition.</p><p>Despite overlapping claims with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei, Beijing built several man-made islands capable of housing soldiers and military equipment in the strategic waterway where $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.</p><p>Last year, some Southeast Asian nations and China held joint naval drills in the contested waters that somehow eased tensions in the area.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/01/17/china-philippines-asean-hold-joint-naval-drills">China, Philippines, ASEAN hold joint naval drills</a></li></ul><p>But Poling said military exercises in the South China Sea may pave the way for the Chinese jets to take flight over the disputed area.</p><p>&quot;I think they&#x27;ll start small. They&#x27;ll send a few aircraft for exercises and then there will be bigger groups and then they&#x27;ll rotate. Before long, we all have gotten used to the idea that there are Chinese fighter jets in the Spratlys,&quot; he said.</p><p>Chinese construction in Scarborough Shoal may also happen &quot;sooner or later,&quot; Poling said.</p><p>&quot;They haven&#x27;t hidden the fact that they want a base in Scarborough sooner or later. It might not be a big reclaimed island like what we&#x27;ve seen in Mischief [Reef] and Subi. It might be a smaller facility that&#x27;s less damaging. A lot of it would depend on the relationship between Beijing and Manila,&quot; he said.</p><p>Ties between China and the Philippines improved in 2016 after President Rodrigo Duterte turned away from Manila&#x27;s traditional ally Washington as then-US President Barack Obama criticized his bloody war on drugs.</p><p>The Duterte administration has also not been keen in mentioning the Philippines&#x27; arbitral win against China in key documents and in diplomatic summits where Chinese officials were present.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/17/17/ph-refusal-to-raise-arbitration-win-may-backfire-ex-security-official">PH refusal to raise arbitration win may backfire: ex-security official</a></li></ul><p>&quot;I think the Palace is betting on good faith. They are assuming that if they don&#x27;t complain about anything, no matter what the Chinese do, if they don&#x27;t complain, then Beijing will reward the Philippines with a code of conduct that will be legally binding and billions of dollars of investment,&quot; Poling said.</p><p>&quot;Part of the government is being naive about dealing with China and it&#x27;s understandable because the alternative would be going through years and years of more tensions,&quot; he added.</p><p>Last year, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China agreed to start negotiations on a code of conduct on the South China Sea.</p><p>The meeting is expected to begin in March in Vietnam.</p>

<p>China may soon develop bases in Scarborough Shoal and deploy fighter jets to other military facilities it constructed in the South China Sea, a maritime expert said Friday.</p>

China may soon develop bases in Scarborough Shoal and deploy fighter jets to other military facilities it constructed in the South China Sea, a maritime expert said Friday.