19/12/2015 Reporters

Welcome to Reporters, I'm Philippa Thomas. From here in the world's

newsroom we send out reporters across the globe. This week:

stand-off in the skies above the South China Seas. We fly over one of

the most contested areas of the world. Our captain is saying we are

civilian aircraft but it didn't make a difference whatsoever, they

repeated that threat, leave the area, over and over again. And

inside Colombia's cocaine capital, we look at the forces taking down a

cocaine lab in the relentless war against the drugs trade.

This is the final order. That is the cocaine sold on the streets of

Britain and Europe and America. We start with a rare glimpse of

China's determined expansion in the South China Sea. It is one of the

most contested areas anywhere in the world and Beijing's claims to it are

increasingly disputed by other nations, especially the US. At that

hasn't discouraged China which is now building huge, artificial

islands in the region. The islands are difficult to reach but Rupert

Wingfield-Hayes flew in a small civilian aircraft into China's

self-declared security zone, 140 miles off the coast of the

Philippines and this is what he found.

It is just before dawn on the Philippine island. Even at this

hour, it is hot but there was no sign here of the trouble brewing a

few hundred miles out to sea. I'm about to take off on a trip the

Chinese government has tried to stop. As we rolled down the runway,

we're all tense. No one has tried what we are about to do. We are now

heading south west towards a number of Chinese controlled atolls, these

are places whether Chinese have been doing massive land reclamation over

the last year and a half. We want to go and see what the Chinese are

doing and to test to see if the Chinese will try to stop us. The

whole of this area is, according to most countries, international

airspace. Just 140 nautical miles from the Philippine coast, we spot

new land. This place is called Mischief Reef. There was just a

submerged at all here and now millions of tonnes of material have

been dredged up to build this huge new island. As we close to 12

nautical miles, this. Down below, we can see at pair of

Chinese navy ships. Our pilots are nervous. They want to turn away. We

are a civilian aircraft flying over international waters and yet we are

being repeatedly threatened. We are a civilian aircraft carrying

passengers. The Chinese are sending out that message, leave this area

immediately. Chinese and in English. Our captain said we are a civilian

air craft, not a military aircraft that it didn't make any difference

whatsoever, they repeated that threat, leave the area, over and

over again. As we fly on, the full extent of the construction is

revealed. The lagoon is teeming with ships. A cement plant is visible on

the new land. And for the first time, a clear view of the new runway

China is building here. A Chinese fighter taking off from here could

reach the Philippine coast in nine minutes. In the last year, China has

built at least seven new island and three new runways in the South China

Sea. One here at Mischief Reef. The aim is to reinforce China's claim to

the whole of the South China Sea. America and its allies are now

responding. Over the radio we now hear up one of them. We are an

Australian aircraft... What we are hearing is an Australian military

aircraft asserting freedom of passage. More than 40% of the

world's trade passes through the waters below us. China is determined

to assert its control. America and its allies say they won't let that

happen. But as we have found out, it may already be too late.

Now, from the skies over the South China Sea is to one of the most

island part of South America and the war on drugs. But 's National crime

agency says it is working closely with the Colombian Parretti

providing intelligence and a logistical operation in its fight

against the cocaine traffickers. We joined British and Colombian forces

to gain action -- access to a laboratory deep in the Columbia

Boris. -- Colombian forest. It is one of the most by the cities

in South America. But's travel advice is don't come here. One event

or rack is notorious. -- Buenaventura. The cocaine trade

shatters this community and forces the children into a world of

violence and abuse. The government says things are improving here but

tell that to this woman. When she dared to stand up to the drug Antz,

her 15-year-old son was gunned down. -- drug gangs. They taught me a

lesson because they didn't just kill a child, they killed the family. The

choices are often stark for the sons and daughters of the poor here.

Children become grids of victims of the gangs. When day passes tonight,

these people come out to work. We were taken to meet one, an assassin

who kills people for his boss. Can you explain what is the life of one

like you? Many things. Death, JL, drug African. -- Jail,

drug-trafficking. If the boss says I have to kill, I kill. If he says I

have to chop, I chop. And I get a reward. Few survive this world. The

profits can be great, so too the losses. Death or jail. But the

inside story on the cocaine trade, we met the drug trafficker. For

security reasons, we cannot show his identity. Cocaine is such a popular,

fashionable drug and the money is so big that nine out of ten people

would say yes to it. And that makes the risk worth taking? If he took

about an average year's salary being earned in 24 hours, yes. I don't

think the trafficking in cocaine will ever stop all the consumption

of cocaine. And will the war on drugs. High in the hills on the

border with Venezuela, anti-knock dig is police moved in, they have a

tip there is a cocaine lab hidden deep in the woods. Officers were

deployed shortly after midnight and they moved the site. The people

working here ran away, they made one arrest, this is a key part of the

laboratory. The cocaine paste is brought up the hill and processed

and this is the final product. Britain 's National crime agency

took part in this operation, gathering intelligence. We spoke to

one of the officers involved in the raid, we can't identify him. It is

important to Britain and to the NCA because all the labs we blow up, or

the cocaine that is seized here is a cocaine that is not going to bid UK,

the states or Europe. Explosives rigged and the officers pull back,

knowing that tomorrow, despite starts again. In a war against

cocaine, it may well be impossible to win.

And that is all from Reporters for this week. Form me -- from me,

Philippa Thomas, goodbye. Well, if it is a white Christmas you

are after, temperatures have an awfully long way for so keep

dreaming. Certainly none of the white stuff out there on Saturday.