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Voice of America
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
China opposes Vietnam's building work on disputed reef in South China Sea
China opposes Vietnam's construction activities on a disputed islet in the South China Sea known as the Barque Canada Reef, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Occupied by Vietnam since the 1980s, the reef in the Spratly Islands is claimed by several countries, in a dispute that has intensified as China and the United States vie for influence in the strategic Southeast Asian nation. The reef is "part of China's territory," ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a regular news conference, adding that China had always opposed "illegal occupation" of islands and reefs. Vietnam's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China claims almost the entire South China Sea despite overlapping claims in the busy waterway by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Vietnam's land reclamation had expanded the reef by 10 times since 2022, according to a study by Guangdong Ocean University and China's natural resources ministry, and which is being reviewed for publication in the Journal of Tropical Oceanography. The study added that Vietnam had dredged a channel 299 meters in width at the reef, sufficient to berth large vessels, such as warships. Last year, China rebuffed Vietnam's claims of sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly island chains, saying its own claims to the two were backed by history. Vietnam has previously cited "full legal basis and ample historical evidence" for its claims to the reef. The neighbors, who have close economic ties, agreed to step up cooperation on security matters in a move towards building a community with a "shared future" during a trip to Hanoi last December by Chinese President Xi Jinping. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled that China's South China Sea claims were not supported by international law, a decision Beijing rejects. "China will strive for an early conclusion of the code of conduct in the South China Sea and jointly safeguard peace and stability" in the region, Guo said in response to a query about disputes in the South China Sea. He was referring to a framework the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping is striving to finalize.
Reuters
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
China opposes Vietnam's building work on disputed reef in South China Sea
BEIJING, Feb 19 (Reuters) - China opposes Vietnam's construction activities on a disputed islet in the South China Sea known as the Barque Canada Reef, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Occupied by Vietnam since the 1980s, the reef in the Spratly Islands is claimed by several countries, in a dispute that has intensified as China and the United States vie for influence in the strategic Southeast Asian nation. The reef is "part of China's territory", ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a regular news conference, adding that China had always opposed "illegal occupation" of islands and reefs. Vietnam's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China claims almost the entire South China Sea despite overlapping claims in the busy waterway by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Vietnam's land reclamation had expanded the reef by 10 times since 2022, according to a study, opens new tab by Guangdong Ocean University and China's natural resources ministry that is being reviewed for publication in the Journal of Tropical Oceanography. The study, added that Vietnam had dredged a channel 299 m (327 yards) in width at the reef, sufficient to berth large vessels, such as warships. Last year, China rebuffed Vietnam's claims of sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly island chains, saying its own claims to the two were backed by history. Vietnam has previously cited "full legal basis and ample historical evidence" for its claims to the reef. The neighbours, who have close economic ties, agreed to step up cooperation on security matters in a move towards building a community with a "shared future" during a trip to Hanoi last December by Chinese President Xi Jinping. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled that China's South China Sea claims were not supported by international law, a decision Beijing rejects. "China will strive for an early conclusion of the code of conduct in the South China Sea and jointly safeguard peace and stability" in the region, Guo said in response to a query about disputes in the South China Sea. He was referring to a framework the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping is striving to finalise.
South China Morning Post
19-02-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
South China Sea: Beijing ministry gauges depth of new Vietnamese port on reef
The research combines laser measurements from Nasa's ICESat-2 satellite with optical data from the European Union's Sentinel-2 to map underwater changes with unprecedented precision. The team's peer-reviewed paper was published in the Chinese-language Journal of Tropical Oceanography on February 13. Barque Canada Reef is the largest landform in the Spratly Islands, an archipelago in the South China Sea that is claimed by several nations and is known in China as the Nansha Islands. According to the paper, the research revealed that Vietnam had dredged a 299-metre (980-foot) wide channel reaching an average depth of 11.37 metres leading into the strategic harbour at the western tip of Barque Canada Reef, which is known in China as Bai Jiao. The channel is deep enough to accommodate some of the world's largest warships, such as China's largest Type 055 destroyers that have a 6.6-metre draught, according to openly available information. From 2022 to 2024, reclaimed land at the reef expanded tenfold to 1.94 sq km (0.75 square miles), placing concrete over coral flats, according to the study. 'These data [are] conclusive proof that Vietnam's land-reclamation projects, coupled with the excavation of navigation channels and harbour construction, have profoundly reshaped Bai Jiao Reef's topography, triggering drastic geomorphological alterations across the island complex,' wrote study co-author Fu Dongyang, of Guangdong Ocean University.
