Philippine officials say a mission visited Sandy Cay reef in the disputed South China Sea and unfurled the national flag.
The Philippines has denied a Chinese Coast Guard report that China had “dealt with” a situation involving six Filipino personnel, whom Beijing accused of illegally landing on a tiny reef in the disputed South China Sea.
Chinese Coast Guard spokesperson Liu Dejun said in a statement on Sunday evening that six personnel from the Philippines had earlier that day “illegally boarded” the Tiexian Reef, also known as Sandy Cay, despite “warnings and dissuasion” from the Chinese side.
Liu said that Chinese Coast Guard personnel then “boarded the reef and investigated and dealt with it in accordance with the law”. The statement did not provide further details on the encounter or the identities of the six people from the Philippines.
“We urge the Philippines to immediately stop its infringement,” Liu said, adding that the actions “violated China’s territorial sovereignty”.
Officials in Manila denied on Monday that China had taken over Sandy Cay or that a Philippine mission on Sunday to Sandy Cay – a reef over which sand has accumulated – was interfered with by Chinese maritime forces in the disputed area.
Sandy Cay, part of the Spratly Islands, lies near Thitu Island, also called Pag-asa and the site of a Philippine military facility.
“Philippine government officials have categorically denied that China has seized Sandy Cay or has now permanently taken over Sandy Cay in the South China Sea, describing the statement that was released through Chinese state media over the weekend as an ‘outright lie’, as part of Beijing’s disinformation tactics,” Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Lo said, reporting from Manila in the Philippines.
“To prove this point they showed media a recent, as recent as Sunday morning actually, a mission to Sandy Cay by the Philippine Coastguard and the Philippine Navy. Showing photos and videos of the Philippine flag being unfurled on two of the three sand bars that make up Sandy Cay in the South China Sea,” Lo said.
Lo said Philippine officials confirmed that Chinese vessels were present near the disputed reef during the mission on Sunday, but denied that the Philippine mission was “dealt with” as claimed by China.
Chinese state media said on Saturday that the country’s coastguard had “implemented maritime control” over the Tiexian Reef during the middle of April. China’s state broadcaster CCTV said in the report that the Chinese coastguard landed on Sandy Cay to “exercise sovereignty and jurisdiction” over the reef, carry out an “inspection” and “collect video evidence regarding the illegal activities of the Philippine side”.
The broadcaster published a photograph of five people, clad in black, standing on the uninhabited reef as a dark inflatable boat bobbed in the nearby water. Another shot showed four coastguard officials posing with a national flag on the reef’s white surface, in what CCTV described as a “vow of sovereignty”.
According to reports, there is no sign that China has permanently occupied the reef.
Also on Monday, the Philippine and US militaries launched three weeks of annual joint exercises, called “Balikatan” or “shoulder to shoulder”, which will include an integrated air and missile defence simulation for the first time.
Beijing has said the manoeuvres “undermine regional strategic stability” and accused Manila of “collusion with countries outside the region”.
Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing, said the unfurling of a Chinese flag by the coastguard on Sandy Cay was significant in terms of stating claim to the reef, and the timing in advance of the annual US-Philippine military exercises.
“So it seems that with the staking of this Chinese flag on this reef, it is sending a message not only to Manila but also to Washington,” Yu said.