Translated material
Typhoon blew up the island built by Vietnam in the peak of China
Recent satellite pictures showed that the jasmine typhoon, formed over Southeast Asia at the end of December last year, almost completely destroyed one of the artificial islands poured by Vietnam in the South China Sea, reports Onliner.by with reference to the Chinese media.
The incident occurred against the backdrop of an exacerbation of the conflict around the Svtli archipelago, part of which was the injured island. The islands of Vytli in the South China Sea have long been a controversial territory, which is claimed by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia. The entire area of the archipelago is about five square kilometers, but it consists mainly of small rocks, shallows and reefs.
Nevertheless, for conflicting parties, territorial dispute is of fundamental importance, because the islands of Svtli are in the path of active shipping between China, Korea and Japan and the countries of Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. In addition, it is assumed that in the area of the archipelago there are large deposits of minerals, mainly oil and gas.
Recently, applicants for the islands are actively working to strengthen their presence in the region, in particular, increase the area of Svtli through the creation of artificial islands, which are later declared part of the sovereign territory of a particular state. This was what Vietnam did, having launched the appropriate earthwork by one of the reefs, which at the same time considers the PRC.
On February 2, 2016, the Chinese media, not without gloating, reported that the efforts of diligent Vietnamese builders ended in nothing. The typhoon rare in December, called the Jasmine, simply blew up most of the sandy island into the sea, and it is still unclear whether the Vietnamese side will resume work.