The Chinese army has occupied the disputed reef of Sandy Cay, which is part of the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea and is located just "a fewer kilometres" from an crucial military facility in the Philippines, the Titu Islands - reports the diary "Financial Times", citing Chinese media.
Official Chinese broadcaster CCTV reported that Coast Guard "has introduced maritime control and exercises sovereign jurisdiction" over the Sandy Cay reef, part of the disputed Spratly archipelago.
The reef was taken on the eve of next week's yearly Philippine-American military exercises, including coastal defence and maritime offensive operations.
"Financial Times", notes that it is not yet possible to talk of the full business of Sandy Cay reef by China, as there are no signs of a permanent military presence there. According to the Filipino military authorities, the Chinese Coast defender "retired" after placing the Chinese flag in the occupied territory.
Strategic Military Point
The paper emphasizes that Sandy Cay is sandy small size of just over 200 square meterswhich, however, is of strategical importance to China due to the fact that allows the jurisdiction to extend to 12-mile sea area, including the island of Titu, which the Philippines usage to track Chinese naval movements. China's authoritative announcement of control of Sandy Cay besides raises concerns that Beijing intends to annex another uninhabited reefs and fragments of the South China Sea coast.
Beijing has officially placed its flag on a previously uninhabited land in the South China Sea for the first time in years - writes "Financial Times". This step increases the hazard of exacerbating confrontation in the region, All the more so, Chinese law allows coastguards to detain and inspect abroad ships recognised as aggressors and to hold their crews.
❗️🇨🇳China has seized Sand Cay Island in the South China Sea, which belongs to 🇻🇳Vietnam, – FT.
Chinese forces occupied the unified island, which had Vietnamese posts and a fishing station, raising the PRC flags. pic.twitter.com/wCP9IkuONK
China and the Philippines, as well as Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan for many years were incapable to agree on the position of 2 groups of tiny islands and reefs in the South China Sea - the Spratly archipelago (Chinese name Nansha) in the south and the Paracel islands (Sisha) in the north, as well as neighbouring waters - exclusive economical zones with a width of 200 nautical miles.
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague after the complaint of the Philippines ruled that Chinese activities around the Spratly archipelago, where Beijing has designated an economical region of 200 nautical miles wide, are illegal. The Chinese authorities ignored this verdict.
Source: PAP
