China completed the runway on Fiery Cross Reef previous year and in January flew three commercial jets to the island as a test.
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China said it landed a military aircraft on this newly build island for the first time to evacuate three critically ill construction workers.
It was the first time China’s military had publicly admitted landing an aircraft on Fiery Cross Reef, the influential Global Times tabloid said.
The South China Sea and patches of islands there have become a source of tension between China, the USA, and some regional countries who are seeking control of trade routes and mineral deposits. The Philippines, which also claims islands and reefs controlled by China, criticized the move.
Britain said Monday, April 18, it will stand alongside the United States in supporting an upcoming ruling by an worldwide tribunal in a case that challenges the legality of China’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea.
China has previously landed civilian planes on Kagitingin Reef.
According to report from Chinese military the aircraft was on air patrol in West Philippine Sea when it flew to the Spratly Islands on an emergency mission.
But U.S. officials had some questions. On Jan 6, two civilian aircraft left Haikou in Hainan province and landed on Yongshu Reef after test flights of almost two hours. With tensions rising in the South China Sea, The Pentagon said that almost 300 American troops will remain in the Philippines through the end of the month following annual war games that ended Friday.
“China’s economy has been growing rapidly for 20 to 30 years, but on a much smaller base”, Key said during a conversation with Chinese entrepreneurs in Beijing, noting that although growth rate has slowed, it is “on a much, much higher base, so the economic growth each year is still very considerable”.
“On the Chinese territory, this kind of thing is not surprising at all”, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.
Prime Minister John Key has just started a visit to China where he’s aiming to get a better deal for New Zealand’s exports and seek support for Helen Clark’s bid to be the next United Nations secretary-general.
As well as China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Taiwan have overlapping claims to parts of the sea, which are home to some of the world’s most important shipping lanes and believed to sit atop vast oil reserves.
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Similarly, the Chinese military did not say where exactly the drills took place, but pictures of navy ship doing live-fire exercises were shown in social media accounts of the state media.
