A dilapidated Philippines ship intentionally run aground on a South China Sea reef to counter China's claim to the area could soon 'succumb to the elements', an American security analyst says.
Beijing has turned Mischief Reef and other reefs and outcrops into artificial, militarised islands to assert its claims to most of the South China Sea, overlapping territory claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
"It is our prayer that there will be no water cannon incident, there will be less aggressive reception from the other side especially because of the international attention that this incident has generated," he said.Beijing has made it clear their priority is stopping construction materials reaching the ship.
"Regrettably, in defiance of the repeated situation and warning from the Chinese side, the Philippine side insisted on transporting construction materials to the grounded vessel for overhaul and reinforcement with the intent of permanently occupying Ren'ai Reef," he said.Mr Powell said the structural soundness of the ship was "the subject of much speculation around Manila"."Certainly a major storm could hasten that process if it is in that range.
"Airdrops are certainly an option, though they would need to be large and sustained activities to make a real difference.
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