Antelope Reef

The credits will be provided in three $1,000 tranches from early next year.

China's construction of a runway on Antelope Reef in the disputed South China Sea is well underway, according to satellite images reviewed by Reuters.

The pictures show grading work, gravel and concrete, as well as cranes compacting the reclaimed land.

Analysts estimate it could be completed by mid-next year, potentially strengthening Beijing's military control over the disputed region.

China has not acknowledged construction of a military base, saying Antelope Reef will serve civilian needs including weather forecasting and maritime research.

In Western Europe, more than 34,600 people have died from heat-related causes across five countries amid record high summer temperatures.

France saw about 7,800 heat-related deaths, its highest number in at least a decade.

China Central Television, China's largest state-run television broadcaster, reported on August 31 that the Chinese Coast Guard will continue to carry out law enforcement patrols in the Shoal's territorial waters and adjacent areas.

Separately, Vietnam on August 28 protested the Chinese regime's reclamation and construction activities at Antelope Reef and Ya Gong Island in the South China Sea, two outposts contested by both nations but currently controlled by Beijing.

Hanoi firmly opposes the works and demands that such activities cease immediately and not recur, Vietnam's foreign ministry said, according to Vietnam News, a state-run English news outlet.

China's most likely next move is not dramatic expansion but deeper consolidation, I made Andy Arzana, a South China Sea expert at Indonesia's Gajah Mada University, told The Epoch Times.

Wang said the regime's salami slicing, tactics, strategies of incremental steps designed to achieve results without triggering immediate resistance, could intensify in the coming months.

The regime is seeking to build a defensive buffer in the South China Sea so it can control Indo-Pacific energy and cargo channels in the event of a potential conflict with the United States, he said.

Threatening Taiwan Analysts said China's construction at Antelope Reef, which will form part of its largest military base, could also prove critical to any future conflict over Taiwan, Reuters reported in August.

Taiwan is a self-governed democracy that the Chinese communist regime has never controlled but has vowed to annex, potentially by force.

... and so on.

Antelope Reef just off, uh, Vietnam and yeah, uh, which in record time, less than a year, has gone from nothing, uh, barely above the water, to having the foundations for a 10,000-foot runway and, uh, multiple port areas inside its atoll.

So, uh, they've built that one in record time.

Uh, so yeah, fascinating what's going on there.