> China's ongoing land reclamation activities in the South China Sea have effectively turned Fiery Cross Reef into the largest "island" in the disputed Spratly archipelago. Photos of the region taken by US-based commercial space imagery and geospatial content website DigitalGlobe on Sept. 25 revealed that Chinese activities have increased the area of Fiery Cross Reef more than 11-fold from 0.08 square kilometers to 0.96 square kilometers, making the reef even bigger than the Taiwan-controlled Taiping Island, the largest of the Spratlys by land area. Fiery Cross is now also the fifth largest of the South China Sea Islands behind Woody Island, Pratas Island, Lincoln Island and Triton Island.

> [Source](http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20141021000087&cid=1101)

> A set of aerial photos show that the size of disputed Woody Island in the South China Sea has increased by 40% since last year

> [Source](http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=11&id=20141226000136)

> Hughes Reef in the Spratly Islands is now 200 times its former size thanks to China's land reclamation activities in the South China Sea. A Jan. 14 satellite image provided by Airbus Defence & Space shows a 75,000-square-meter reclaimed island and a large facility under construction at the reef, called Dongmen Reef in Chinese. This makes the land area approximately 200 times what it was 10 years ago, when compared to a DigitalGlobe image caught on Feb. 1, 2004 that showed the 380-square-meter concrete platform before construction began. Other reefs have also been subject to reclamation. A recent satellite image of Johnson South Reef (Chigua Reef in Chinese), which is located 30 km southwest of Hughes Reef, shows major construction underway. A satellite image of Chinese construction on Gaven Reef (Nanshun Reef in Chinese) shows that a lane has been built to connect the original facility with a helipad.

> [Source](http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20150224000064&cid=1101)

> China is conducting "large scale" land reclamation and construction on a reef in the disputed Spratly Islands, state-backed media reported on Thursday, in an unusual acknowledgement of its controversial work in the region. Citing satellite images, the semi-official China Military Online said China had officially begun reclamation work on Cuarteron Reef, which is also claimed by the Philippines.

> [Source](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/26/us-china-southchinasea-idUSKBN0LU11S20150226)

> Despite opposition from the United States and the Philippines, China has begun to build an airstrip on Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed South China Sea, according to a satellite image released recently, the Shanghai-based Guancha Syndicate reports.

> [Source](http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=11&id=20150312000178)

> Extensive land reclamation efforts by China have made Subi Reef, a Chinese-controlled reef located 26 km southwest of Philippine-controlled Thitu Island, twice as big as Taiping Island, also known as Itu Aba, the largest natural island of the disputed Spratly Island group

> [Source](http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=11&id=20150320000119)

> This map shows four land features in the Spratly Islands that have undergone significant construction or land reclamation work in the past year. They are: Itu Aba, Gaven Reef, Johnson South Reef, and Fiery Cross Reef. Read more details about the features of these projects and use click and drag the slider in the middle to see before and after photographs.

> [Source](http://amti.csis.org/before-and-after-the-south-china-sea-transformed/)

> High-resolution satellite images from April 17, 2015 reveal that in the space of ten weeks China has built an island on top of Subi Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands group. The dimensions and shape of the land fill, which is still underway, are compatible with a potential airstrip 3,300 meters long, similar to the prospective length of the runway currently being paved on Fiery Cross, the site of another installation being built by China on a former reef in the Spratlys. As recently as February 6, 2015, only two small sites of dredging and land fill activity were detectable at Subi Reef, part of a maritime region that is claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan, as well as China. As of April 17, 2015, the land fill of Subi measured 2.27 square kilometers in area, on a par with the rapidly manufactured island at Fiery Cross Reef, recently assessed as 2.65 square kilometers in area. Disputed Mischief Reef in the Spratlys, also the site of rapid land reclamation by China, has been filled in with sand and coral cuttings to an area of approximately 2.42 square kilometers as of April 13, 2015, from virtually no above-water terrain as of a few months ago. Satellite imagery shows a minimum of 23 dredgers operating at Mischief on April 13, along with at least two dozen other large construction-related vessels within the lagoon formed by the circular reef. In that day’s satellite image, 28 concrete transport/mixing trucks can be seen, in addition to dozens of other large trucks and dozens of backhoes. Subi, Mischief and Fiery Cross reefs are three of at least seven reefs in the Spratly Islands that have been filled in by China and are being outfitted for purposes that are most likely military in nature.

> [Source](http://thediplomat.com/2015/04/south-china-sea-chinas-unprecedented-spratlys-building-program/)

> Airbus Defence and Space imagery of Johnson South Reef taken on 4 June 2015 shows that the outline of the about 103,000 m 2 island has been completed, while construction of the main buildings appears finished and other infrastructure continues to be built at an accelerated rate. The satellite imagery, along with photographs published by Vietnamese state media that were taken from nearby Collins Reef, shows that all the main buildings - including a large, multistorey administrative building that measures about 40 x 45 m - are complete. This corroborates posts on Chinese military online forums reporting that main construction at Johnson South Reef had been finished by mid-May.

> [Source](http://www.janes.com/article/52462/china-making-progress-with-johnson-south-reef-construction)

> South China Sea: China Is Building on the Paracels As Well. High-resolution satellite images from March 17 show that Woody Island, occupied by China since 1956, is undergoing a major expansion of its runway and airport facilities. Within the past five months, a 2,400-meter airstrip has been completely replaced with a new concrete runway measuring 2,920 meters in length, accompanied by a new taxiway, expanded runway aprons and adjacent large buildings under construction. Additional land reclamation is also underway on Woody Island, called Yongxing Dao in Chinese and Đảo Phú Lâm in Vietnamese. Eighty kilometers southwest of Woody, on Duncan Island (seized by China from Vietnam in 1974) satellite images show landfill that has increased the size of the island by approximately 50 percent since April 2014. Known as Chenhang Dao in Chinese and Đảo Quang Hòa in Vietnamese, the island houses a military garrison, four radar domes, a concrete manufacturing plant, and a port that has recently been expanded via dredging and coral cutting. A reinforced sea wall is being constructed around recent landfill. New buildings have also appeared on nearby Drummond Island, occupied by China.

> [Source](http://thediplomat.com/2015/04/south-china-sea-china-is-building-on-the-paracels-as-well/)

> China's rapidly expanding campaign to construct artificial islands, potentially for military use or airstrips, now totals about 2,000 acres (800 hectares) and could far outstrip that amount as the year goes on, a senior defence official said Friday.

> [Source](http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/u-s-official-china-island-building-now-totals-2-000-acres-pentagon-report-raises-concerns-1.2365692)

> The Pentagon report, issued late Thursday, said that, as of June, China has reclaimed 2,900 acres of landmass across a string of islands in the South China Sea known as the Spratlys, up nearly 50% from May, when the Pentagon said Beijing had claimed about 2,000 acres.

> [Source](http://www.wsj.com/articles/pentagon-says-china-has-stepped-up-land-reclamation-in-south-china-sea-1440120837)