China’s Island Builders

By: Andrew S. Erickson, Conor M. Kennedy

Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell

Recent satellite images show that the Spratly islands, a series of features in the South China Sea, are growing at a staggering pace. Tons of sand, rocks, coral cuttings, and concrete are transforming miniscule Chinese-occupied outcroppings into sizeable islands with harbors, large multi-story buildings, airstrips, and other government facilities. The parties behind the construction and defense of these islands remain a thinly veiled secret.©2015 Foreign Affairs (P)2015 Audible, Inc.