Taiwan’s foreign minister said on March 20 that China has built “enormous” military bases on three islands surrounding Taiwan’s main holding in the South China Sea, but that Taipei is not looking to further escalate tensions in the strategic waterway.Both Taiwan and China claim most of the South China Sea as their own territory, but Taiwan only controls one islet in the contested Spratly Islands deep in the southern part of the sea called Itu Aba, which Taiwan refers to as Taiping Island.China and the Philippines have been involved in a dangerous stand-off in the South China Sea of late, but the situation around Itu Aba is also tense, Wu said.Itu Aba has a runway long enough to take military re-supply flights from Taiwan, but is only relatively lightly defended compared to the nearby Chinese-controlled islands and Chinese forces generally leave Itu Aba alone.China has carried out extensive land reclamation on its South China Sea islands, building major air force and other military facilities, causing major concern in Washington and around the region.