Beijing has rejected a protest from Vietnam after a Chinese airplane landed on a contested reef in the South China Sea, saying the operation took place within Chinese territory.
A Chinese “test flight” landed on the Fiery Cross Reef (Yongshu Reef, 永暑島), Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said in an online statement late on Saturday.
China has asserted its claim to almost all of the South China Sea by rapidly building artificial islands, including airstrips said to be capable of hosting military jets.
It began work in 2014 on a 3,000m runway on Fiery Cross in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), about 1,000km from China’s island province of Hainan. Vietnam also claims the islands, as does Taiwan, while sovereignty over some or all of the islands is also disputed by Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Hua said the test flight was civilian in nature, adding that the “relevant activity falls completely within China’s sovereignty.”
Hanoi earlier strongly protested the flight, labeling it a violation of sovereignty that “influences peace and stability in the South China Sea.”
“Vietnam resolutely protests China’s abovementioned action, asking China to immediately end, while not repeating similar moves,” Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Le Hai Binh said in Hanoi.
Vietnamese officials also said they had asked Beijing to investigate the ramming and sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat by a suspected Chinese boat.
The fishermen were on Friday about 60 nautical miles (111km) from Con Co Island in central Quang Tri Province when a foreign boat crashed into their craft.
The 11 members of the vessel’s crew were rescued, but the boat sank, the fishermen told the VNExpress news Web site.
The captain was quoted as saying that he saw Chinese characters on the foreign boat.
Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance Deputy Director Ha Le told reporters that Chinese officials had offered to check on the report if more details became available.
Relations between the communist neighbors have grown tense in recent years over the disputed Spratlys and Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島).
Rioting broke out in Vietnam after Beijing sent an oil rig into contested waters in 2014, and at least three Chinese were killed.
Since then the two sides have tried to mend relations. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) visited Hanoi in November last year, but that visit also saw anti-Chinese protests.
Hanoi has stepped up cooperation with the US, in what analysts say is a hedge against China’s rising power.
Several other claimants have also built facilities in the South China Sea, but at a slower pace than China.
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