China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) announced via its Weibo account on Dec. 14 that it has started construction on a filling station and oil depot project on Yongxing Island.

Some foreign media has said that China is building the oil station on "disputed" land. Liu Feng, an expert on maritime issues, said that Yongxing Island is the seat of the Sansha city government, meaning that the project is within the public administration of Sansha city. Furthermore, building the filling station is a practical necessity for the island. 

According to the Sinopec Weibo, the company will build a 2,000 cubic meter oil depot at the Yongxing Island comprehensive terminal in order to satisfy the need for oil on all the islands under Sansha city. The filling station is expected to be completed within three months, and the oil depot will be completed within a year. 

According to Liu Feng, construction of the filling station is totally within the scope of China's administration. In recent years, construction in Sansha city has quickened; oil consumption for transportation, infrastructure construction, fishery production and other areas doubles every year. For a long time, Yongxing Island relied on oil transported a long distance from the main island of Hainan. However, the transportation of oil is under strict management, and the economic and social development of Sansha city has been hindered by a lack of oil. Thus, it is an inevitable choice to build an oil depot on Yongxing Island.