China builds school on island
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China has begun building a school on the contested Paracel islands, state media reported, as the Asian giant further asserts its claims in escalating territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
The school on Chinese-held Sansha or Woody Island will serve about 40 children whose parents work there, the official news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday, adding that construction will cost about 36 million yuan (Bt187 million) and take a year and a half.
China established Sansha as a city in 2012 to administer a wide swathe of waters and islands in the South China Sea, creating an oddity that is by far the world’s largest city by area but has a minuscule population of around 1,000 people.
Sansha hosts a military garrison and this year began setting up a patrol system intended in part to “safeguard national sovereign rights”. Expanded infrastructure and tourism are in the works.
