Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential military benefits of China's recent land reclamation and construction activities in the Spratly Islands archipelago; and if he will make a statement.

We, and our allies, keep developments in the South China Sea - including the reclamation of land by the People's Republic of China - under close review. As the Secretary of State for Defence said in a speech at the Shangri-la dialogue on in Singapore on 30 May 2015 "we are disturbed by the scale and speed of current land reclamation activities and the risk that these actions may pose to maritime freedom of navigation and to the stability of the South China Sea." The detail of our assessment of the military utility of Chinese activity is classified. However, it would appear that when complete their reclamation will enable and support the deployment of Chinese military force more widely, more readily and on a more enduring basis in the South China Sea than is currently possible.