PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines: China is pressing ahead with the construction of artificial islands on at least two reefs that are also claimed by the Philippines in the increasingly tense territorial dispute, Filipino officials said Friday, despite Beijing’s pronouncement that some work would end soon.
Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon of Kalayaan island, which is under Philippine control in the Spratly islands, where attention has recently focused on China’s massive islands reclamation work, said that he flew last week near the Chinese-controlled Subi Reef and saw construction was in full swing with many dredgers and a huge crane visible on the emerging man-made island.
“It’s full-blast construction. It’s massive and incredible,” he told The Associated Press, adding that it was evident it would take months before the Chinese complete the work.
In the mid-portion of the emerging island, a 3-km (1.9-mile) -long landfill is taking the shape of a runway, Bito-onon said.
His comments followed similar findings by the US military and independent defense analysts.
Two senior Philippine military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk to the media, said that aside from Subi Reef, China’s island-building has also continued on Mischief Reef, also in the Spratlys, based on recent military surveillance.
Chinese Embassy officials in Manila did not comment immediately.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on June 16 that the land reclamation projects on some islands and reefs “will be completed in upcoming days.”
China island-building in full swing, says Manila
China island-building in full swing, says Manila
Guinea dissolves top opposition
- Political opponents have been arrested, put on trial or driven into exile, while enforced disappearances and kidnappings have multiplied
CONAKRY: Guinea has dissolved 40 political parties, including its three main opposition groups, via a late-night decree, fewer than two months after former junta leader Mamady Doumbouya was sworn in as president.
Doumbouya, who has ruled Guinea with an iron fist, was elected in late December in a vote in which all major opposition leaders were barred.
Guinea’s minister of territorial administration and decentralization ordered the dissolution of the parties late on Friday for “failure to fulfil their obligations.” The decree also stripped them of control of their assets.
Since coming to power in a 2021 coup, Doumbouya has cracked down on civil liberties and banned protests.
Political opponents have been arrested, put on trial or driven into exile, while enforced disappearances and kidnappings have multiplied.
Included among the dissolved groups are Guinea’s three main political parties: the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea led by its exiled leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, the Rally of the People of Guinea, led by ex-president Alpha Conde, and the Union of Republican Forces.
“This dissolution entails the immediate loss of the legal personality and status of the parties concerned,” the order said.
That includes “all political activities” as well as the use of “acronyms, logos, emblems and other distinctive symbols” associated with the groups, it said.
The parties’ assets have been placed under “sequestration” with a curator appointed to oversee their transfer, the decree said, without specifying to whom or to what entity.
Civil society movements condemned the parties’ dissolution on Saturday, calling it a power grab.
Ibrahima Diallo, a leader in the pro-democracy National Front for the Defense of the Constitution said “the country is sinking into profound uncertainty.”
Two well-known FNDC activists, Oumar Sylla, better known as Fonike Mengue, and Mamadou Billo Bah, have been missing since July 2024.
