0
Aerial photo of structures and buildings China built on the artificial island at Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands, South China Sea, taken on the 20th (local time). / AP-Yonhap

More than 200 Chinese vessels have been confirmed massing around Mischief Reef, a disputed area of the South China Sea, Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported on the 23rd (local time).

According to private security analysis organization DEEP Dive, the number of Chinese vessels anchored at Mischief Reef — located in the eastern part of the Spratly Islands (known as the Nansha Islands in China and the Kalayaan Islands in the Philippines) — grew from fewer than 40 in mid-May to 80 by the 27th of that month, surpassing 150 by early June and reaching 228 by July 3.

Mischief Reef sits about 40 km west of Second Thomas Shoal, which the Philippines effectively controls, and military tensions in the South China Sea are rising amid speculation that this large-scale gathering of vessels could be aimed at cutting off supply lines to Philippine forces or serving as preparatory groundwork for a future attempt to seize Second Thomas Shoal.

There is growing concern that China could repeat its past pattern — having previously seized Mischief Reef and built military infrastructure there, including an airstrip — potentially causing Second Thomas Shoal to also slip from Philippine control and become another Chinese military outpost.

Mischief Reef sits within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ), but China moved in and began effectively controlling it in the mid-1990s. Following large-scale land reclamation and construction of structures in the 2010s, it now functions as an artificial island and key military base equipped with an airstrip roughly 3 km long, along with radar facilities.

Bonji Ohara, DEEP Dive's representative and a former Japanese defense attaché in China, and researcher Miyabi Ishihara noted that more than 20 of the gathered vessels were anchored tied together in raft formations — a configuration far removed from typical fishing activity, prompting analysis that China's military is using its maritime militia to expand its effective control of the area.

                                                                                                          Lee Jeong-eun