China will bring cruise ships to Spratly islands

In this May 6, 2016 photo, soldiers from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy watch as the USS Blue Ridge arrives at a port in Shanghai. (AP)

BEIJING: Chinese cruise ships will regularly bring tourists to the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea by 2020, reports said Wednesday, as tensions mount in the region. Beijing asserts sovereignty over almost all of the strategically vital South China Sea, despite rival claims from Southeast Asian neighbors, and has rapidly built reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes.
Chinese companies already operate cruises — for Chinese nationals only — to the Paracel Islands.
A new proposal seeks to develop routes to the Spratlys, much further south, said the China Daily, which is published by the government.