BEIJING, August 23. /TASS/. The expansion of the Philippines' military infrastructure on the Zhongye Dao (Thitu) Island, part of the Nansha (Spratly) archipelago in the South China Sea, may indicate possible preparations for a provocation, Zhang Jie, a research fellow at the National Institute of International Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has told Global Times.

According to his estimates, a military buildup in the disputed territory may indicate Manila's intentions "to potentially invite warships and warplanes from countries outside the region, such as the US and Japan" to this zone, which is fraught with an aggravation of the situation in the South China Sea. In May, Philippine defense chief Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and other Philippine officials attended a groundbreaking ceremony of the Philippine Navy barracks on Zhongye Dao. In addition, later Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that the development of an airport on Zhongye Dao was one of the priorities of his government.

The expert called such steps by the Philippine leadership as "distinctive characteristics" of Manila’s preparations for provocations and an escalation of tensions the South China Sea. In his opinion, recently the Philippines' actions in the disputed territory "have been more proactive and aggressive compared with China's restrained measures, as Manila relies on its allies rather than its own strength."

It is possible that the infrastructure built on the Zhongye Dao Island could be used to host military equipment from the US and Japan, the analyst said.

On August 19, the Chinese Coast Guard reported a repeated intrusion of a Philippine vessel into the disputed waters in the South China Sea during one day. According to the Coast Guard, the incident occurred near the disputed reef of Renai (Ayungin). Earlier, boats of the two countries reportedly collided near Xianbin (Sabina) shoal.

For several decades Beijing has been disputing with several countries sovereignty over certain islands in the South China Sea, where significant hydrocarbon offshore reserves have been discovered. In the focus of the dispute are the Paracel Islands (Sisha), the Nansha archipelago and the Huangyan shoal (Scarborough). These issues concern Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.