China seeks private investment to build infrastructure on disputed islands

Beijing

CHINA will invite private investment to build infrastructure on islands that it controls in the disputed South China Sea and will this year start regular flights to one of them, state media said on Friday, moves likely to anger other claimants.

China claims almost all of the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, through which more than US$5 trillion of maritime trade passes each year. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims.