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China sources say military building facilities on islands near Senkakus

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Chinas military is building large-scale base facilities on islands near the Senkaku Islands, several Chinese sources said Sunday.

Construction is underway in the Nanji Islands in Zhejiang Province, lying about 300 km to the northwest of the Japanese-administered, uninhabited Senkakus in the East China Sea. China calls the islands Diaoyu.

The base is expected to enhance Chinas readiness to respond to potential military crises in the region as well as to strengthen surveillance over the air defense identification zone it declared over part of the East China Sea in November last year, the sources said.

According to the sources, several large radar installations have been built at high points on the main Nanji Island. Several landing strips have been paved, likely for use by aircraft based on warships or patrol vessels, and more landing strips are set to be built on an island adjacent to Nanji Island from around next year.

As the archipelago of 52 islands and islets is located about 100 km closer to the Senkakus than Okinawas main island, home to bases of the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military, the new base is likely to shake up Japan-U.S. security strategies relating to the Senkakus defense.

The continued expansion of Chinas interests in the East China Sea comes after Japan-China relations, tainted by territorial and wartime historical issues, were somewhat thawed by a meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in November.

Military expansion may necessitate the relocation of the roughly 2,500 civilians who live in the archipelago, most engaged in fishing, as well as the restriction of tourism at the summer vacation spot.

UNESCO listed 15 of the islands as a biosphere reserve in 1998, reflecting the diversity of the archipelagos marine life.

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China sources say military building facilities on islands near Senkakus

Lasqueti Island rep is vice-chair of Islands Trust

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At its first meeting since the local government elections in November, the Islands Trust Council elected a chair and three vice-chairs recently to form the Islands Trust Executive Committee for the 2014-2018 term.

Council also elected two representatives to sit on the Trust Fund Board. Nominees answered questions from trustees about the skills and values they would bring to these leadership positions, according to a news release from the Islands Trust.

The new chair of the Islands Trust Council is Peter Luckham from the Thetis Island Local Trust Area. The three new vice-chairs are: Trustee Laura Busheikin of the Denman Island Local Trust Area, Trustee George Grams of the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Area and Trustee Susan Morrison of the Lasqueti Island Local Trust Area.

The Islands Trust executive committee oversees daily business of the Islands Trust between quarterly meetings of the entire council. It has legislated responsibilities to consider approval of bylaws developed by local trust committees and Bowen Island Municipality. Members also serve as chairs of the 12 local trust committees that have authority for land use planning and regulation in the Islands Trust Area.

The Islands Trust Council also elected Trustee Kate-Louise Stamford of the Gambier Island Local Trust Area and Trustee Tony Law of the Hornby Island Local Trust Area to serve on the Trust Fund Board, a land conservancy for Canada's islands in the Salish Sea. The executive committee then Lasqueti Island's Morrison as its representative to the Trust Fund Board.

NEWS Staff/Island Trust

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Lasqueti Island rep is vice-chair of Islands Trust

Trade, commerce, bridges

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WHY would anyone build bridges across islands? Well, why not? The country already has the San Juanico Bridge that stretches from Samar to Leyte across the San Juanico Strait. Thats one of the sane deed that the late unlamented dictator Ferdinand Marcos contributed to Philippine society.

Then theres Japan with its Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge (Pearl Bridge) that links Kobe to Iwaya islands. Pearl Bridge is the worlds longest suspension bridge span of 1,991 meters across the Akashi Strait that separates these two islands. The infrastructure cost the Japanese government an arm-and-a leg at $3.6 billion. Was the public investment of Japanese taxpayers money worth it?

Definitely. Every day, 23,000 cars pass over a structure that must withstand earthquakes (a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit in 1995), consistently strong tidal currents (9 knots), and wind gusts up to 54 kph.

The Bridge has generated economic benefits in diverse fields, beginning with tourism and product distribution. Think tank calculations estimated an economic boost of 50 billion yen in the first year of the Bridges operations alone.

Is it farfetched to think that Western Visayas can replicate the feat? Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Maran Jr. thinks so. He proposed the interconnectivity among major Visayan Islands as a long term measure to decongest key urban centers, including Metro Manila. The concept is not new but a revival of the ideas of another Maran.

Then Negrense Governor Joseph Maran and other Visayan governors envisioned the Trans-Visayas Friendship Bridge to boost tourism, trade, commerce and investments in all three Visayas regions. There will be more traffic from both sides of the Guimaras Straits.

In Western Visayas, the connecting bridge between Panay and Negros Occidental would be the Tomongtong point in E.B. Magaloa town linked to San Juan Point, Banate town in Iloilo.

Unfortunately, our public officials are still talking the talk for eight years. Two years ago, real estate developer Vladimir Gonzles, who has been working with interested a Japanese investor on the PGN Bridges, said that based on the Master Plan of Japan International Cooperation Agency in 1999, the two bridges from Leganes in Iloilo to Buenavista, Guimaras and from San Lorenzo in Guimaras to Pulupandan in Negros Occidental will have a total length of 23.19 kilometers.

The distance is miniscule compared to the challenges of building Pearl Bridge. Its something doable within our social and technical level of development. The point is the technology is there, perhaps even Japanese investors and official development funds.

Regional Director Ro-ann Bacal lamented that Visayas is the most fragmented. If only we can connect Cebu, Negros and Panay, then we can be very strong. I agree. The division of the Visayas by the sea will lessen the obstacles to commerce and tourism.

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Trade, commerce, bridges


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