Contested territory

Beijing is engaged in a series of territorial disputes in the South China Sea, parts or all of which is claimed by China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines.

In 2012, China created the city of Sansha, based on Woody Island, to administer all its claimed territory in the region, including the Spratly Islands, Paracels, Macclesfield Bank and the Scarborough Shoal.

Since then, Beijing has moved to encourage tourism and development in the South China Sea to help press its claim that the territories are unequivocally Chinese.

Cruises regularly leave Hainan for the South China Sea islands, where Chinese tourists engage in ceremonial activities like raising the country's flag and singing the national anthem.

Freedom of navigation

As well as disputes with other South China Sea claimants, Beijing's activity has also set it up for confrontations with the US -- which has long carried out "freedom of navigation" operations through waters claimed by China.

The top US commander in the Pacific, Adm. Harry Harris, told an audience in Australia last month "fake islands should not be believed by real people," in reference to China's land reclamation activities.

"I believe the Chinese are building up combat power and positional advantage in an attempt to assert de facto sovereignty over disputed maritime features and spaces in the South China," Harris added.

China called the action "a serious political and military provocation" and warned the US against "(stirring) up trouble" in the region.