China appears set on militarizing another reef in the South China Sea
Besides nursing a growing network of lily-pad installations, China rehearsed a new tactic late last year by mobilizing hundreds of fishing boats to create two massive L-shaped “floating barriers” 290 miles long.
The geospatial firm ingeniSPACE first noticed the phenomenon, as 2,000 Chinese vessels created this formation from Dec. 25-27 in waters northeast of Taiwan.
This coordinated activity occurred just three days before China announced a major exercise circumscribing Taiwan. Dubbed Justice Mission-2025, the PLA exercise was designed to browbeat Taiwan and rehearse the implementation of a naval blockade.