China has almost finished building a 3,000-metre-long airstrip on one of its artificial islands in the disputed Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea, according to a report from Reuters. The airstrip, located on Fiery Cross reef which makes up part of the Spratly islands archipelago, will be long enough to accommodate most Chinese military aircraft and may be operational within months based on a satellite photograph published by the Asia Maritime Transparency initiative (AMTI) last month.