(VOVworld) – International scholars and the world’s media have condemned China’s expansion by trying to legalize disputed marine areas or turn undisputed into disputed marine areas. China has accelerated its illegal construction activities in the East Sea including the building of a 6 million USD school on Vietnam’s Hoang Sa archipelago. The Philippines government announced last week that China could possibly be reclaiming land on 5 islands in the East Sea namely Chigua Reef, Cuarteron Reef, Gaven Reef, Hughes Reef, and Eldad Reef. Experts worry that China’s reclamation is for military purposes such as the building of a runway as the basis for establishing an air-defense identification zone in the East Sea. The Philippines Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario said on Monday that China’s East Sea policy would threaten regional security and stability. He added that China wanted these works to be completed before parties concerned adopted a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

In an interview with France’s La Croa daily on Monday, Valerie Niquet, an international expert on strategic issues in Asia, said China was showing its expansionist ambitions in the East Sea by trying to legalize disputed marine areas. She said that China’s sovereignty claims in the East China Sea and the East Sea were based on its false historical interpretations.