The China Coast Guard (CCG) landed on a disputed reef in the South China Sea earlier this month to assert sovereignty over the island that the Philippines also claims, Chinese media reported on Thursday.
According to the state-run Global Times, photographs show CCG officers unfurling a Chinese flag on an uninhabited sand bank, identified as Sandy Cay, also known as Tiexian Jiao in China and Pagasa Cay 2 in the Philippines.
“In mid-April this year, the China Coast Guard exercised sovereign jurisdiction by exercising maritime control at Sandy Cay in the South China Sea,” it reported, without specifying the date of the landing.
The officers carried out inspections on the reef “to collect video evidence of relevant illegal activities by the Philippines”, and cleared rubbish like plastic bottles, wood sticks and other debris, the report said.
Part of the contested Spratly Islands, the Sandy Cay is the closest reef to the Subi Reef, China’s second largest artificial island and military base in the South China Sea. It is also only several kilometres from Thitu Island, the largest base the Philippines currently holds.
The CCG said earlier that China had “indisputable sovereignty” over the Nansha Islands, including the Tiexian Jiao, and their adjacent waters. Nansha is the Chinese name of the Spratly Islands.
“The China Coast Guard will continue to carry out rights protection and law enforcement activities in the waters under China’s jurisdiction in accordance with the law and resolutely safeguard the country’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.” it quoted its spokesperson Liu Dejun as saying.
