20 14 in order to better safeguard China's sovereignty over the south China sea, China reclaimed land from Nansha to build six islands and reefs.
Among them, after Hua was upgraded to Huayang Island, the garrison and agricultural personnel on the island overcame great difficulties and turned the island from a barren land into a forest today.
It can be said that China's infrastructure in the South China Sea not only safeguarded its sovereignty, but also made great contributions to improving the ecological environment in the South China Sea.
The South China Sea is the largest marginal sea in China, and Nansha Islands is the land support point with the largest area and the most controlled sea area in China.
Although fishermen have been active in Nansha since Han Dynasty, it is also an important basis for China to claim Nansha sovereignty. However, in the 1970s, due to the lack of naval strength in China, countries with geographical advantages such as Viet Nam and the Philippines occupied most of the islands and reefs in Nansha.
Later, due to the limitation of national strength and the need to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, China recovered only six islands and reefs at 1988.
Hua, the predecessor of Huayang Island, is an unknown island reef in Nansha Islands, located at 8 degrees 5 1 min north latitude in the south of Nansha Islands. Fishermen in China called this reef "Tongpaizi" in ancient times. 1935, the China government announced its name as "Kedelong Reef". It was not until 1947 that the China government announced the "Nine-Segment Line" that it was renamed as "Hua" [1].
The flower reef plate is small in area and is spindle-shaped or crescent-shaped. The reef is 5.5 kilometers long and about 2 kilometers wide. Covering an area of 7.6 square kilometers, most of it is below the water surface, and it can only be exposed to the water surface at low tide.
China's natural environment is not superior, and even a lagoon for fishing boats to take refuge has not been developed. However, when China recovered Nansha, Yongshu Reef was listed as the administrative center of Nansha, which made China's status suddenly improve.
Judging from the overall geographical location of the South Island Reef, China is an integral part of the Zhongyinqing Reef in Nansha. The west side is only17.4km away from the East Reef, and then the middle reef and the West Reef form the Yin Qing Reef. Hua, 86.4 kilometers southwest, is the best natural cypress reef, and Yongshu Reef, 75.25 kilometers north.
At present, the other five islands and reefs stationed by our troops are all in the north of China, so this island and reef is too prominent and goes deep into the enemy-controlled island and reef like a wedge.
At that time, Yongshu Reef was chosen as the center of Nansha Islands, considering that Yongshu Reef is located in the middle of Nansha Islands, close to the international waterway, and the sea transportation to and from Chinese mainland is very convenient.
In addition, Yongshu Reef is located in the center of the South China Sea, which is representative in hydrometeorological observation. Therefore, China, located in the south, naturally becomes the "South Gate" of Nansha, China, and its strategic position cannot be overemphasized.
Speaking of the difficulty of the People's Navy in safeguarding sovereignty in the South China Sea, I can't help but think of Professor Zhang crying and saying, "How much we suffered in those years."
Although China controlled the Xisha Islands in the 1980s, its military strength in the direction of Nansha is still blank.
It was only by taking advantage of the excellent opportunity that UNESCO entrusted China to build a manned ocean observatory in Nansha Islands in April 1987 that our government decided to find a suitable island reef construction in Nansha and maintain its safety by force.
1In February 1988, a landing ship sent by the East China Sea Fleet formed a formation with the South China Sea Fleet frigates and engineering ships. After arriving in Nansha for a few days and nights, Yongshu Reef was determined as the foothold of the ocean observation station. At that time, the enemy situation in Nansha was very serious, and it was decided to control China in the south of Nansha as a barrier and outpost.
But at that time, China's available area was too small, and the defenders had no place at all.
However, the Xisha garrison had encountered the same problem, so it came up with a way to build a high-rise building. In Professor Zhang's words, the so-called high-legged house is just a small shack similar to watching watermelons, with a few columns under it.
1988 February 18 After the hard work of engineers, a tall house finally stood on China, which also marked the official start of China's exercise of sovereignty over it. At this time, Vietnam also learned that China was building an ocean observatory in Nansha Islands, and quickly sent people to occupy our island reef.
19881February captured China West Reef and East Reef.
On March 14, a famous naval battle broke out with our fleet when China tried to seize Chigua Reef. Our army won a great victory and permanently recovered six islands and reefs, including Chigua Island, Yongshu Island, Dongmen Island, Huayang Island, Nanxun Island and Qibi Island, which gave China a basic foothold in safeguarding sovereignty in Nansha.
Regrettably, until today, the East Reef, which faces China across the sea, is still occupied by Vietnam. Foreign media reported that Vietnam had built five reef castles on the East Reef and stationed dozens of troops.
However, for the first eight warriors who went to the island, the test of truly entering high-rise residential buildings has just begun. Not to mention the narrow front of the high-rise roof, even if all unnecessary materials are saved, drinking water and food still account for half of the whole high-rise house.
Of the eight people, two stand guard with guns every day, and the others can only curl up in the corner to rest.
The high temperature and high humidity climate in the South China Sea not only makes fruits and vegetables rot quickly, but also makes fresh water deteriorate quickly. In order to survive, officers and men can only endure drinking and save this precious fresh water.
The situation in China was a common phenomenon in the South Island Reef at that time, but what made the officers and men feel more stressed was that it was close to Nanwei Island, the administrative center of Vietnam in Nansha Islands.
It is estimated that there are as many as 550 Vietnamese troops stationed there, and the enemy troops on the East Reef often like to do some provocative actions.
Our troops stationed on the island either stare blankly at the sea all day, or frown at the east reef where the enemy is stationed. At night, the soldiers can only listen to the sound of the waves and fall asleep except reading a few books that have been turned over.
In this way, generations of officers and men endured the difficult environment of defending the country and the frontier, and it was not until 20 12 that a major turning point was ushered in.
At that time, the Philippines failed to detain China fishing boats near Huangyan Island, so its wicked people complained first and provoked the so-called "South China Sea arbitration case".
Due to the long-term stability destroyed by the Philippines, China quickly filled in seven islands and reefs, including China. Among them, the project in China started in June 20 13 and was basically completed in early 20 14.
The upgraded Huayang Island covers an area of 0.28 square kilometers, ranking seventh among the South Island Reef, even comparable to Taiping Island, the largest island in Nansha controlled by Taiwan Province Province.
The success of land reclamation in Huayang Island provides a minimum living space for officers and men's activities on the island. Now, Huayang Island has built wharves, harbors, barracks, power plants and other supporting facilities.
At present, the facilities on the island are improving day by day, and the living environment has been greatly improved. In particular, the officers and men are pleased that a larger area of cold storage has been built, completely solving the dilemma of not being able to eat fresh food for a long time.
In 20 16, China Guangzhou Advanced Institute developed a diesel generator set, and its seawater desalination demonstration system driven by the residual heat of cylinder liner cooling water achieved a leap in seawater desalination technology in China.
It is estimated that a 1000 kW diesel generator can use waste heat to produce 60 tons of fresh water every day, which can solve the daily water consumption problem of 300 people.
Therefore, the military and civilians on Huayang Island completely got rid of the previous limit of 10 liter of water per person per day, which not only improved the quality of life, but also ensured their health. The new terminal will change the supply from once every three months to once a month, and the greenhouses built by officers and men on the island can supply fruits and vegetables at any time.
Now the life of officers and men stationed on the island is not much different from that on land, and many veterans feel incredible when they return to Huayang Island.
Of course, China's infrastructure in Nansha is more for peaceful purposes, especially for international shipping and fishermen in the South China Sea.
From May 20 15 to June 0/KLOC-0, China built two 50-meter-high lighthouses on Huayang Island and Chigua Island.
The lighting range of 4.5m lanterns can reach 22 nautical miles, thus providing public service products such as navigation for international shipping [3]. Although there are few fishing boats near Huayang Island, once the fishermen are in distress at sea, our officers and men stationed on the island can provide support at any time.
Compared with other islands and reefs, Huayang Island has a small reclamation area and is now surrounded by islands and reefs controlled by Vietnam.
As the southernmost island reef where our army is currently stationed, our army has built a large radar station on Huayang Island, which can see the aircraft activities near the Straits of Malacca as far as possible.
When it comes to planting trees, people first think of planting trees on the edge of the desert and in the northwest and north China, which are seriously short of water. But in fact, many islands and reefs in the South China Sea are actually no different from deserts without human intervention.
This is because although high temperature and high humidity are conducive to the growth of plants in the South China Sea, almost all the south island reefs are made of dead coral skeletons. Therefore, the soil is alkaline, and there is little organic matter. The typhoon raging every summer seriously affects the germination and growth of plants.
A soldier of our army once described that planting a tree on the south island reef is as difficult as raising a child.
As early as 1974, after our army completely recovered Xisha, it began to study the greening operation of the south island reef. Of course, the early purpose was to improve the lives of officers and men. After all, everyone should eat green leafy vegetables. The transportation of supply ships once every few months often cannot meet the minimum needs of officers and men.
Therefore, our officers and men guarding the island used a small amount of soil and coral sand brought from the land to repeatedly mix and try, and first solved the problem of growing vegetables. Later, our army and agricultural personnel also began to try to transport some salt-tolerant plants in coastal areas to Nansha Island reef for experimental planting.
In recent years, tropical plants such as Casuarina equisetifolia and coconut trees transplanted from the mainland have finally been successfully experimented and intensively planted on the island in a checkerboard layout.
Today's photos show that Huayang Island is almost full of dense forests except artificial buildings, which is in sharp contrast with other islands and reefs. In fact, the reason why China is determined to afforest Huayang Island on such a large scale is also due to the lack of conditions for further expansion.
According to the theory of air-sea battle formed after World War II, the most fundamental way to control islands and reefs is to build airports on them and deploy aviation. Then use aviation to gain air and sea control rights, thus completely expelling hostile forces from the vicinity.
At present, Yongshu Island is playing such an aviation hub role in Nansha, and Huayang Island has not yet built an airport and helipad. At the same time, because there is no ready-made lagoon, our army will not station more naval and air forces.
Because there is no need for large-scale infrastructure, there is more room for plant cultivation than other islands and reefs. In addition, there are huge ecological considerations for planting trees on Huayang Island in China.
The South China Sea is the richest area of marine life in China. In addition to all kinds of fish and shrimp swimming in the water, there are turtles that need to breed on land and a large number of seabirds that need a foothold.
The reclamation of islands in China has expanded the area of islands and reefs, and provided space for the activities of turtles and seabirds. However, seabirds are a huge trouble for airports, which can be seen from the fact that every airport has a special bird repellent.
However, China has built a large airport with a runway of 3,000 meters on Yongshu Island, and even deliberately lowered the greening level to prevent bird damage.
In this case, the large-scale greening of Huayang Island will attract all seabirds, improve the ecology of Nansha area and avoid bringing trouble to Yongshu Island.
The Nansha issue still makes many people in China feel sad. After all, it is a shame that China Island Reef is occupied by others. However, with the steady development of China's navy and air force and the gradual victory in the battle for resources in the South China Sea, all the occupied islands and reefs will be gradually harvested in the future.
The East Reef, just a stone's throw from Huayang Island, is13km long from east to west and 2-4km wide. It covers an area of 4 1.6 square kilometers and can fill more than 20 square kilometers of land. Among them, the lagoon area is 16.5 square kilometers, and the water depth is 8 to 15 meters, which can build a high-quality harbor.
Our troops stationed in Huayang Island can deter Viet Nam from carrying out similar land reclamation operations on the East Reef, which provides the possibility for China to recover the entire Yin Qing Reef including the East Reef in the future.
In fact, with the completion of China's island building project, the logic of struggle in the whole South China Sea has been subverted. For example, simply comparing the military strength of Nanwei Island and Huayang Island, it seems that the Vietnamese garrison can drive our garrison away at any time.
But in fact, apart from the small reef plate abandoned by our army due to practical difficulties, Vietnam has not taken any action to seize the island by force. However, China is now carrying out large-scale engineering construction on Huayang Island, which has greatly deterred the nearby Vietnamese army without firing a shot.
According to the retired Vietnamese army, they used to have to go to very close China to see our tall buildings after starting from Nanwei Island.
But today, they can only look at the large-scale buildings of our army on Huayang Island from a distance, knowing very well that the era of their bullying in Nansha is gone forever.
Both China and Viet Nam are stationing troops in Nansha Island reef, and the fundamental purpose is to obtain nearby resources. At present, Vietnam's oil exploration in the South China Sea has entered a period of exhaustion, and Vietnam's oil exploration in disputed waters between the two sides has been repeatedly destroyed by our side.
At the same time, Vietnamese fishermen also found that even if they newly built armored fishing boats, fishing in the South China Sea often lost money because they were expelled by our law enforcement vessels. Once the South China Sea becomes completely unprofitable, Vietnam and China will no longer compete for every inch of land on the Nansha issue.
There is no submarine oil near Huayang Island, and there is no need to continue to fill the island in the future, because fishery resources are limited. However, after China gradually recovers other islands and reefs with Huayang Island as a springboard in the future, the plants cultivated on Huayang Island can be quickly transplanted to the newly recovered islands and reefs.
Therefore, China intends to build Huayang Island into a forest park, not only for greening, but also for the planning after more than ten years.
[1] People's Republic of China (PRC) the State Council Communique. China hownet.2016-03-20
[2] Solve the biggest problem of South Island Reef. Sina.20 16-02- 18
[3] China began to build two 50-meter-high lighthouses in Dehua and Chigua Reef.