Beijing seizes disputed reef with troops raising flag near military base... before Filipino troops unfurl their own banner on another island amid growing South China Sea tensions
The Beijing coast guard has seized a disputed island in the South China Sea, escalating a long-running territory dispute with the Philippines.
Chinese coast guard officers 'implemented maritime control' over Tiexian Reef, part of the Sandy Cay reef, in mid-April, state broadcaster CCTV said Saturday.
Photographs show four officers posing with a Chinese flag on the reef's white surface, in what state media described as a 'vow of sovereignty and jurisdiction'.
The Philippine Coast Guard on Monday responded by releasing its own photograph showing Filipino sailors holding the country's flag over the same disputed reef during an early morning mission the day before.
A Philippine statement said that a joint coast guard, navy and maritime police team on rubber dinghies had landed on the three sandbars that make up Sandy Cay.
Manila also denied that the reef was under under Beijing's control, branding the CCTV report as 'irresponsible' and claiming the status quo was unchanged.
A Chinese coast guard statement has described the Philippine landing as 'illegal' and said that officers had gone ashore 'to conduct on-site verification and enforcement measures.' It didn't specify what those steps entailed.
The Sandy Cay reef lies near Thitu Island, or Pag-asa, where the Philippines stations troops and maintains a coast guard monitoring base. There is no apparent sign that China has permanently occupied or built a structure on the reef.
The Philippines and China have been engaged in months of confrontations over the South China Sea, which Beijing claims nearly in its entirety despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
Commodore Jay Tarriela, a Philippine coast guard spokesperson, said in a statement posted to X on Monday that its military had landed on Sandy Cay.
The statement featured video and photos, including one showing personnel displaying a Philippine flag on one of the sandbars.
'This operation reflects the unwavering dedication and commitment of the Philippine Government to uphold the country's sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea,' the statement said.
The move came three days after the Beijing-owned media published photos of Chinese coast guard officers on Tiexian Reef in mid-April holding up a Chinese flag and cleaning up plastic bottles and other debris.
The Chinese coast guard statement on the subsequent Philippine landing said that China holds 'indisputable sovereignty' over the Spratly islands, including Tiexian Reef and the surrounding waters.
'There is no truth whatsoever to the claim of the China Coast Guard that the (Sandy Cay sandbanks) have been seized,' National Security Council spokesman Jonathan Malaya told a Monday press conference.
'It's in the interest of the People's Republic of China to use the information space to intimidate and harass,' he said, calling the Sandy Cay report a 'made-up' story that had been 'irresponsible' to disseminate.
In recent months, Beijing and Manila have blamed each other for causing what they describe as the ecological degradation of several disputed landforms in the South China Sea.
US and Philippine forces are currently conducting joint exercises that Beijing has said constitute a threat to regional stability.
Chinese warships have been spotted in Philippine waters since those bilateral 'Balikatan' exercises kicked off last week, with aircraft carrier Shandong reportedly coming within 2.23 nautical miles (about four kilometres) of northern Babuyan Island.
Last year, Beijing and Manila exchanged accusations of intentionally ramming coast guard vessels in disputed waters of the South China Sea.
The collision in August near the Sabina Shoal was their fifth maritime confrontation in a month in a longstanding rivalry.
Manila claimed China Coast Guard vessel 5205 'directly and intentionally rammed the Philippine vessel' without provocation.
The ramming damaged the 97-metre (320-foot) Teresa Magbanua, one of the Philippines' largest coast guard cutters, but no personnel were injured.
A spokesperson for China's coast guard said in a statement a Philippine ship, 'illegally stranded' at the shoal, had lifted anchor and 'deliberately rammed' a Chinese vessel.
Manila claimed China Coast Guard vessel 5205 'directly and intentionally rammed the Philippine vessel' without provocation
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Portions of the waterway, where more than £2trillion worth of trade passes annually, are believed to be rich in oil and natural gas deposits, as well as fish stocks.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 found China's sweeping claims had no legal basis, a ruling Beijing rejects.
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