China has built artificial islands, airstrips, and military facilities during extensive land reclamation efforts over the years in disputed waters in the South China Sea.

Islands are a strategic frontier and key to unlocking the development of deep-ocean resources, the People’s Daily, owned by the party, said in an article attributed to the party leadership at China’s natural resources ministry.

“Major countries around the world are vying to shift their development focus to the ocean,” it added, without identifying any countries.

It urged greater efforts to protect the islands China claims, by upgrading infrastructure and boosting connectivity and access.

China is spending billions of dollars on its navy, from nuclear-powered submarines to aircraft carriers as it pursues a goal of becoming a “great maritime power” dating from 2012, when Xi Jinping became leader of the ruling Communist Party.

Last September, Beijing declared a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal to assert its claim to the atoll, a long-time flashpoint with the Philippines.

“The facilities on its artificial island bases have allowed Chinese law enforcement, naval, and militia vessels to spend every day of the year patrolling the waters of its neighbours up to 1,000 nautical miles from the Chinese coastline,” said Gregory Poling of the CSIS think tank.

But China’s presence in the busy waterway did not deter a senior Taiwan official from making a ‌rare visit to the Taiwan-controlled island of Itu Aba, part of the contested Spratly Islands.

Itu Aba has a runway long enough to allow military re-supply flights from Taiwan, while a new wharf opened in 2023 can host a 4,000-ton patrol ship.

Democratically-governed Taiwan is claimed by China, despite the objections of the government in Taipei, which says only the island’s people can decide its future.

The Philippines, the United States and partner nations started military drills this week, including maritime operations, across the Philippine archipelago.

The exercise projects a multinational front against China in a region that is a conduit for more than US$3 trillion in annual ship-borne commerce.

“Beijing seems to have hit a point of diminished returns,” said Poling, who heads the think tank’s Southeast Asia programme.

“It has not succeeded in stopping a single Southeast Asian energy project, resupply or construction mission, or the like, in at least four years.”