US concerned with Chinese firm’s hand in island-building near its Manila embassy

Barges are seen beside reclamation sites in the rain in Manila bay

The United States has expressed concerns over major land reclamation projects in Manila Bay near its heavily secured embassy due to the involvement of a Washington-blacklisted Chinese company, the U.S. Embassy said yesterday.

American Embassy spokesperson Kanishka Gangopadhyay said the U.S. also expressed its concerns over the potential environmental impact of the ongoing reclamations in Manila Bay in discussions with Philippine government officials.

Environmental groups have staged protests against the yearslong government-approved reclamations, mostly by real estate companies seeking to build islands on which to anchor upscale hotels, casinos, restaurants and entertainment centers in a bay long notorious for pollution. Others worry that high-rise buildings built on reclaimed land would block ordinary folks’ view of Manila Bay’s famous sunset.

“We have expressed concerns about the potential negative long-term and irreversible impacts to the environment, the resilience to natural hazards of Manila and nearby areas, and to commerce,” Gangopadhyay said in a statement.

“We are also concerned that the projects have ties to the China Communications Construction Co., which has been added to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Entity List for its role in helping the Chinese military construct and militarize artificial islands in the South China Sea,” he said.

There was no immediate comment from Chinese government officials.

Chinese companies that have been placed on the list are restricted from trading with any U.S. firms without gaining a nearly unobtainable special license. China protests the U.S. sanctions as illegal.

The state-owned China Communications Construction Co. has said that one of its subsidiaries, China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd., was involved in a project that includes building three artificial islands at the bay near suburban Pasay city in the capital region.

Washington does not lay a claim to the South China Sea but has said that freedom of navigation and overflight in the strategic passage — where a bulk of the world’s trade transits — and the peaceful resolution of the decades-long disputes were in the U.S. national interest.

The long-simmering territorial conflicts have become a delicate front in the U.S.-China rivalry. U.S. warships and fighter jets have patrolled the disputed waters to challenge China’s expansive territorial claims, often provoking Chinese warnings for the U.S. to stop meddling in the disputes or face unspecified punitive steps. MDT/AP