BEIJING: The Chinese coast guard has seized control of a disputed reef near a major Philippine military outpost in the South China Sea, Beijing’s state media said, adding to longstanding territorial tensions with Manila.
Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions from other regional countries as well as an international ruling that its position has no legal basis.
China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations in the contested waters and Manila is currently taking part in sweeping joint military drills with the United States that Beijing has slammed as destabilising.
The Chinese coast guard “implemented maritime control” over the Tiexian Reef, also known as Sandy Cay, during the middle of April, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Saturday (Apr 26).
The tiny sandbank, part of the Spratly Islands, lies near Thitu Island, also called Pag-asa and the site of a Philippine military facility.
CCTV said the coast guard landed on Sandy Cay to “exercise sovereignty and jurisdiction” over the reef, carry out an “inspection” and “collect video evidence regarding the illegal activities of the Philippine side”.
The broadcaster published a photograph of five black-clad people standing on the uninhabited reef as a dark inflatable boat bobbed in the nearby water.
Another shot showed four coast guard officials posing with a national flag on the reef’s white surface, in what CCTV described as a “vow of sovereignty”.
The group also “cleaned up leftover plastic bottles, wooden sticks and other debris and garbage on the reef”, the broadcaster said.
