Sinking Feeling About China’s Island Bases

The strips in the South China Sea were built quickly on reclaimed sand

By: Todd Crowell

It has been five years since Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command drew popular attention to China’s efforts to fortify half a dozen reefs and atolls in the Spratly island chain in the South China Sea with the pithy expression: China’s Great Wall of Sand. But that sand isn’t exactly stable, and there are real questions…