China's disputed South China Sea island

The BBC has an article about China, flexing its muscles again:

Satellite images (top) show China is making progress on building an airstrip on a reef in disputed territory in the South China Sea. The images, published by Jane's Defense Weekly, show construction work on reclaimed land on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands. The landmass could accommodate a runway about three thousand meters long, the report said.
China's land reclamation work in the area has raised concern around the region. China claims almost the whole of the South China Sea, resulting in overlapping claims with several other Asian nations, including Vietnam and the Philippines.
They accuse China of illegally reclaiming land in contested areas to create artificial islands with facilities that could potentially be for military use. Images have emerged of work in multiple areas in the disputed Spratly islands. China says its work is legal and needed to safeguard its sovereignty.
An image dated 23 March 2015, showed a paved section of runway on the north-eastern side of Fiery Cross Reef, as well as paving and ground preparation of other sections of the runway. The three thousand meter length, it said, "would be well within the parameters of existing People's Liberation Army Air Force runways on mainland China, which vary in length, to four thousand meters at most". It also showed dredging to the south of the reef, in apparent work to improve the reef's port facilities.
Additional images showed that China could be building a second air strip on Subi Reef, also in the Spratlys, and only twenty-five kilometers from an island with a Filipino civilian population, by creating and then linking three artificial islands, the report said.
China's neighbors are concerned that Beijing is working to entrench a military presence in the South China Sea to reinforce, and make permanent, its claims.
The Philippines said last year it believed China was building an airstrip in Johnson South Reef, in the Spratlys, but the extent of work there is not clear. Earlier this week, another report citing satellite images said China was expanding an airstrip on Woody Island, much further north in the disputed Paracel Islands, which Vietnam also claims.
In a 25 February 2014 file photo taken by surveillance planes and released on 15 May 2014 by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, a Chinese vessel is being used to expand structures and land on Johnson Reef, called Mabini by the Philippines and Chigua by China, also in the Spratly Islands.
President Barack Obama has said the US fears China is using its "sheer size and muscle" to strong-arm smaller nations over the South China Sea. A State Department spokesman says the US does "not believe that large-scale land reclamation with the intent to militarize outposts on disputed land features is consistent with the region's desire for peace and stability".
But China insists it is acting within its rights. "China's work on the Spratly islands mostly serves civil purposes apart from meeting the needs of military defense. China is aiming to provide shelter, aid in navigation, weather forecasts, and fishery assistance to ships of various countries passing through the sea," a commentary carried prominently by Xinhua news agency recently read.

Rico says, if you believe that, he's got an island to sell you... (The Spratlys were featured at the end of Rico's novel about Vietnam, At All Hazards.)