China’s Man-Made Islands Are Falling Apart and Sinking Into the Oceans

China’s Man-Made Islands Are Falling Apart and Sinking Into the Ocean Bejing quickly built human-made artificial islands to seize disputed territories. But now it looks like their greed and speed are coming back to haunt them. China’s island outposts in the China Seas might have a major weakness. Since 2013 the Chinese government has dredged and mostly destroyed ecologically delicate reefs in disputed waters in order to build seven major military bases complete with ports, airstrips and radar and missile installations. The islands function as unsinkable aircraft carriers and help to cement Beijing’s claims on waters rich with fish and minerals, waters that neighboring countries also claim. “If the terraforming no longer makes headlines, it is because it is largely complete,” The Economist stated. Perhaps the most important installations sit on the Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief reefs in the Spratly island group. Vietnam, The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan all also c