In 2014, China sent fleets of large dredger ships far from its shores into the South China Sea to transform shallow reefs and atolls into man-made islands. This was an assertive demonstration of Beijing’s claim that the South China Sea belonged to China, especially because all of this construction occurred on territory claimed by China’s neighbors. As the islands took shape, so too did other things: runways, control towers, aircraft hangars, and military-looking bases. In time, the US government began to observe and publicly call out China for arming these man-made islands with long-range
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