Recent satellite photographs show that China appears to have built reinforced aircraft hangars on its holdings in the disputed South China Sea, a Washington-based think-tank said yesterday.

Pictures taken in late July show that the hangars constructed on Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief Reefs in the Spratly Islands have room for any fighter jet in the Chinese air force, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said.

… “As long as China does not permanently station a squadron of aircraft there, I do not think we should read much into it and it is not feasible to leave things uncompleted,” Dr Alan Chong Chia Siong, associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told TODAY, adding that military construction was similar to civilian construction, in that they are built in phases.