Inside Philippine politics & beyond

THEN and Now: Shocking photos of China’s military build up on Subi Reef

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By Raïssa Robles

I’ve decided to learn how to make short videos.

Here below is a video I made of how Subi Reef looked like at the beginning of President Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency, and how it looks now.

The July 2016 photos are from the CSIS Asia Maritime Initiative. Their other photos can be viewed here.

The 2017 photos of Subi Reef were screencapped from Philippine Daily Inquirer’s story entitled- EXCLUSIVE: New photos show China is nearly done with militarization of the South China Sea. The Inquirer article can be viewed here. 

The music is Handel’s Sarabande, an old MIDI file from Alan whose composer is unknown. 

I made this video because I thought this was the best way to show the rapid changes in Subi Reef.

Pls. subscribe to my video channel, where I will be uploading more videos.

I would also be glad to get some tips from you guys on how to improve my videos.

THANKS.

 

Comments

  1. Maritime resources in the West Philippine Sea are no longer for Filipinos

    Subi, Mischief and Fiery Cross reefs has evolved from islets, to manufactured artificial islands and now they are man-made cities.

    According to research data analysis from Earthrise Media, China’s PLA occupied “Big Three” (Subi, Mischief and Fiery Cross reefs) has developed in the following;

    – Subi, some 1,200 km (750 miles) from China’s coast, is now home to nearly 400 individual buildings,

    – Mischief and Fiery Cross each house almost 190 individual buildings and structures,

    – Analysts said the facilities on Subi, Mischief and Fiery Cross could each hold a regiment – between 1,500 to 2,400 troops,

    – Large Chinese amphibious landing vessels and other ships have used the full-scale naval wharves at Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief.

    Apart from several 3 km + runaways for passenger, cargo planes to military fighter jets & bomber planes, including military hangars for missiles and advance communication facilities. It also has deep sea wharves for PLA Navy ships, submarines, based on surveys of high-resolution images obtained by DigitalGlobe satellites, show neat rows of basketball courts, parade grounds and a wide variety of buildings, some flanked by radar equipment.

    China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in scenarios short of war with the United States,” Admiral Philip Davidson, the nominee to be the next commander of all U.S. forces in the Pacific

    Read the whole article @ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-southchinasea-insight/concrete-and-coral-beijings-south-china-sea-building-boom-fuels-concerns-idUSKCN1IO3GA

    Iyan ang legacy in PRR Duterte sa bansang Pilipinas.

    • crazy old man cannot enforce our territorial rights because he does not want to and has no intention of doing so. he’s lazy and too lazy to consult with our maritime legal experts. methink, he cannot understand kasi the entails, details and the ins and outs of it all kaya pinaubaya na lang sa china, sila na ang bahala dyan. sana bigyan niya ng kapangyarihan ang maritime legal experts natin and let them have a go, they’re better at it than him. hwag lang yong masyado siyang passive dinadaig yong vaginang babarilin! he, he, he.

      foreign sec cayetano is not of much use, parang decoration lang yata siya at fist pumping when needed that must be the extend of his job.

      dapat may protest dyan sa chinese embassy, cayetano leading protesters.

  3. Sorry for the out of topic
    I was browsing the news today, and I was kinda curious.

    In reshuffle, Marine battalion sent to Metro Manila to aid anti-terror campaign
    ———————————————————————————————
    http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/10/18/in-reshuffle-marine-battalion-sent-to-metro-manila-to-aid-anti-terror-campaign
    ———————————————————————————————————————–

    what anti-terror campaign? Are they preparing for something we don’t know? (EDSA day is just a few days ahead). Is this to protect the old crazy man? … what do you think?

  4. The photos show a new CHINA SEA WALL

    after the Great Wall

    it is now and will be futuristic MILITARY GARRISON
    of China

    to control everything that swims, fishing, boating,
    trading and passes through this CHINA SEA WALL

    an extensive-imaginary 9-Dash Line Sea Wall

    once fully operational after completion according
    to Chinese Plan, FULL CONTROL will be implemented
    that not even the US Navy 7th Fleet will be allowed to sail
    into-out-to this imaginary 9-Dash Line Sea Wall

    Where did the Chinese imaginary plan for ‘dash lines’ come from?

    Now it is a reality. Thanks to those who did
    not oppose it physically with effects.

    Pray for any unbelievable complete
    destruction to come soon on this
    Chinese military garrisons.

    Let us pray

    • Excerpts:

      Let us go back. . .Just Where Exactly Did China Get the South China Sea Nine-Dash Line From?

      from Mr. WANG Ying, a Chinese marine geographer, who, in 1947, helped etch the U-shaped, 11-dash line on Chinese maps to demarcate roughly 90% of the contested South China Sea for his homeland.

      “All the lines have a scientific basis,” says Wang

      Wang says the line is broken up because it’s a maritime boundary. “It’s not like a fixed borderline on land,” she explains. “As a scientist, I’d say it’s impossible to have a fixed border on the sea … the waves in the ocean move.” Wang also contends that the dotted line is a “very clear” divide between the deep ocean that is China’s domain and a Southeast Asia that doesn’t have much in the way of a continental shelf.

      China ‘allows’. . . “When we made the line, we stressed a humanitarian spirit,” Wang says. “We allow the neighboring countries to pass through it without obstacles.” (In fact, international maritime law allows for such transit.)” Like also saying – We do not allow.

      Where did WANG Ying get his dash lines idea? From YANG his mentor,
      who “In 1947, he worked on the map introducing the 11-dash line and 286 bits of rock and turf in the South China Sea. Yang helped to officially name each chunk of rock and reef, referring to the territory collectively as the “South China Sea Islands.”

      Who is YANG? Yang was employed by the Nationalist government of China. He was persecuted after the Nationalists lost. He died in 2009.

      After the Nationalist’s defeat, “He never talked about the line he made in the South China Sea again,” says Wang of her academic guide’s latter years. “He was treated badly.”

      “Wang nurtures other historic grievances. Chairman Mao’s decision, through Premier Zhou Enlai, to hand over the Gulf of Tonkin to Vietnam in 1952, thereby removing two of the 11 South China Sea dashes, still rankles. “It was stupid,” she says. “Mao Zedong should not have given it up.” By contrast, she contends, Mao went to war with India over a border tiff. Why the difference? “China was a continental kingdom not a maritime one,” she says. “Historically, we did not pay much attention to the oceans.”

      Philippines also did not pay much attention to our oceans.

      ‘ Ultimately, it’s not even clear what the nine-dash line means to China. Is it all water within the boundary or all territorial features? For the average Chinese, every drop of sea within the dashes is clearly China’s. “The discontinuous line,” says Wang, “means the national border on the sea.” The geographer clarifies further. “The dash lines mean the ocean, islands and reefs all belong to China and that China has sovereign rights,” she says. “But it’s discontinuous, meaning that other countries can pass through the lines freely.”

      Tensions remain. And CHINA is ‘cordoning off part of the South China Sea for war games from July 19 to 21. Entrance to these waters by foreign ships, China’s Maritime Safety Administration said, will be “prohibited.” ‘

      Prohibition creates tension.

      Let us continue to pray for the Chinese unbelievable destruction
      of those military garrisons soon.

      [from TIME ]

  6. continued, suggested titles . . .

    7. what can I dooooo! says the tottering man who wants to kill democracy.

    8. I cannot go to war with china, kaya magmantinir na lang ako with killing democracy.

    9. free education for all, kaya speak bisaya gyud!

  7. Canada orders review of chopper sale, says aircraft meant for rescue not war.>> News

    That thing in Subi Reef is impressive, like a floating city.

    Well, Subi Reef helipad is almost ready to welcome the landing of choppers.
    For what? I hope not for drugs and guns….I’ m sure its not for transporting NFA rice, lol.
    Heaven help all if they’re for search and rescue, rescue who? … pinapatay na nga , rescue pa , c.r.a.p.!

    • he, he, h e, some of the subi buildings look like super drug labs! and according to pdea, china is biggest supplier of illegal drugs sa pinas! already, there are floating blue plastic drums found in . . . I forgot the name of the shore. high grade cocaine kuno ang laman ng mga drums na yon. I saw it in bandila news.

      pero, it’s those mushrooming super radars I’m most bothered. apparently, the damn things are so efficient and can hear toilets being flushed as far away as binondo! palagay ko, the radars can also muck up and play havoc with our national data, sensitive or others.

  8. Suggested titles for Duterte’s future biography:

    1. Tatay, tatay, bakit mo ipinamigay?

    2. Build, build, build! (China: ok, olrayt)

    3. How I Managed to Fool 16M of my Countrymen Into Believing Me

    4. Hope is not a Strategy (reference to Malacanang’s hope that China adheres to its promises on the West Phil Sea and Phil Rise)

    5. Halik sa Watawat, Paalam sa Dagat

    6. Why Fish is so Expensive in Manila restaurants (ha ha ha)

    • pasensya na po, andrewlim8, yong sagot ko sa comment nimo ni-ambak sa itaas, nagkaruon yata ng leap of faith! he, he, h e. my comment jumped up! nasa itaas na, anyhow, ito one more tittle pa gani.

      10. I want close ties with china!

      at ito po ang blurb: kasi, I did not know we’re already in stranglehold, china has us by the neck. any closer at joined at the hips na tayo.

      11. federalism is leap to hell! luma na yang jetski kaya leap na lang.

      cheers.

      11.