China launched its ‘magical’ island-building ship on the eve of US President Trump visit to Asia, namely the dredger The Tiankun, presently tied up in Qidong. At 140 metres the Tiankun is the biggest dredger in Asia, with cutters and pumps capable of smashing the equivalent of three Olympic pools of rock an hour from the sea floor and shooting it 15km away to create land. The Marine Design and Research Institute in Shanghai, which designed the vessel, described it as a “magic island-maker”. Launched at a shipyard in Jiangsu province on November 3, the Tiankun will enter service next year with Tianjin Dredging Company, an arm of state-owned China Communications Construction Company that has carried out most of the dredging in the South China Sea. 

(Comment: China has used similar vessels to create a string of strategic islands to support its claims to 85 per cent of the South China Sea. Between 2013 and the middle of 2016, it created seven islands and reclaimed 2,000 acres, and built airfields, missile bases and radar systems.)