The article, published by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, and signed by a leading group from the Ministry of Natural Resources, states that the country has more than 11,000 islands, which constitute a “strategic frontier for safeguarding national rights and interests and ensuring security.”
The document also describes these territories as an essential foundation for “expanding the development space of the marine economy,” in line with transforming China into a maritime power.
The document advocates for the need to “coordinate high-quality development and high-level protection of the islands,” proposing improvements in infrastructure, connectivity, and management of these territories and emphasizing their role as “an important platform for participating in global ocean governance.”
The text adds that “major powers are competing to shift their development focus to the ocean,” amid realignments in the global maritime economy, and maintains that island development must balance resource exploitation with environmental preservation.
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Over the past decade, China has been promoting infrastructure construction and expansion projects on islands and reefs in the South China Sea, including airfields, ports, and other facilities, as part of its strategy to consolidate its presence in the region.
At the same time, Beijing has strengthened other tools to support its claims, such as the increasing use of “Pinyin” place names in official documents and state media to designate disputed territories.
These actions have created tensions with countries in the region and with the United States, which view them as contributing to the militarization of the area, while China maintains that its activities fall within the scope of its sovereignty and serve defensive and civilian purposes.
The disputes have intensified due to incidents between Chinese and Philippine vessels in contested areas, as well as an increase in joint military exercises in the region. Beijing has reiterated that it will “firmly safeguard its sovereignty and security interests” and called for military cooperation not to be directed against third parties.
