China could shore up Scarborough Shoal control with artificial island: analyst

China could build an artificial island at the fiercely contested Scarborough Shoal to shore up control of the surrounding waters if its newly established nature reserve fails to stem challenges by the Philippines, a prominent Chinese scholar on the dispute has said.

But a final decision would boil down to control, cost and confrontation, according to Wu Shicun of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, a government-sponsored think tank.

A major consideration would be “whether it serves to strengthen China’s assertion of sovereignty and effective administrative control”, Shanghai-based news site Guancha quoted Wu as saying in an interview published on Sunday.[South China Morning Post]