Mischief Reef, originally a low-tide, ring-shaped island situated in the Spratly Islands—one of the primary archipelagos in the South China Sea—underwent land reclamation around its rim by China starting in the 1990s, with the process largely completed by 2015.
China asserts control over more than 80% of the South China Sea, a waterway rich in energy resources that sees up to $5 trillion in trade annually. The news emerges after it was revealed this tiny island nation is at the center of a secret war between China and the US.