This handout picture taken on March 21, 2024 and acquired from the Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Assets (PCG/BFAR) exhibits an aerial view of Philippine scientists inspecting Sandy Cay reef, close to the Philippine-held Thitu Island, in Spratly Islands, in disputed waters of the South China Sea. (Picture by Handout / Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) / AFP)
BEIJING — The Chinese language coast guard has seized management of a disputed reef close to a significant Philippine navy outpost within the West Philippine Sea, in line with Beijing’s state media, including to longstanding territorial tensions with Manila.
Beijing claims sovereignty over virtually all the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions from different regional international locations in addition to a global ruling that its place has no authorized foundation.
China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations within the contested waters, and Manila is at the moment participating in sweeping joint navy drills with the US that Beijing has slammed as destabilizing.
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The Chinese language coast guard “carried out maritime management” over the Tiexian Reef, also called Sandy Cay, in the course of the center of April, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Saturday.
The tiny sandbank, a part of the Spratly Islands, lies close to Thitu Island, additionally referred to as Pag-asa and the positioning of a Philippine navy facility.
CCTV stated the coast guard landed on Sandy Cay to “train sovereignty and jurisdiction” over the reef, perform an “inspection” and “acquire video proof relating to the unlawful actions of the Philippine facet”.
The broadcaster printed {a photograph} of 5 black-clad individuals standing on the uninhabited reef as a darkish inflatable boat bobbed within the close by water.
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One other shot confirmed 4 coast guard officers posing with a nationwide flag on the reef’s white floor, in what CCTV described as a “vow of sovereignty”.
The group additionally “cleaned up leftover plastic bottles, wood sticks and different particles and rubbish on the reef”, the broadcaster stated.
The Monetary Occasions reported an unnamed Philippine maritime official as saying that the Chinese language coast guard had left after unfurling the flag.
There don’t look like any indicators that China has completely occupied the reef or has constructed a construction on it.
In latest months, Beijing and Manila have blamed one another for inflicting what they describe because the ecological degradation of a number of disputed landforms within the West Philippine Sea.
READ: Chinese language ships noticed close to US, PH vessels throughout maritime train
China’s state information company Xinhua on Friday cited a report from the pure sources ministry that it stated “debunked” Manila’s allegations that Beijing’s land reclamation initiatives had harmed the native surroundings.
Philippine forces are current on Thitu Island and Manila inaugurated a coast guard monitoring base there in 2023 in an effort to counter what it describes as Chinese language aggression.
On Monday, the Philippine and US militaries launched three weeks of annual joint workout routines referred to as “Balikatan”, or “shoulder to shoulder”, which can embody an built-in air and missile protection simulation for the primary time.
US Marine Corps Lieutenant Basic James Glynn stated on the opening ceremony in Manila that the 2 facet would “exhibit not simply our will to uphold our mutual protection treaty in existence since 1951 however our matchless functionality to take action”.
“Nothing builds bonds extra shortly than shared adversity,” he stated, with out specifying a standard risk.
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Beijing stated the maneuvers “undermine regional strategic stability” and accused Manila of “collusion with international locations outdoors the area”.
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