The U.S. says China’s recent test of a newly completed runway on one of seven islands Beijing has constructed in the disputed South China Sea raises tensions and threatens regional stability.
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Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said the airfield had been “built illegally” on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly archipelago in territory that was “part of Vietnam’s Spratlys”, reports the Dawn.
A “test flight” landed on Fiery Cross reef, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said. While security experts warned the reef could accommodate most Chinese military aircraft, Beijing reiterated that the airfield facilities are for civil aviation goal.
Satellite images published by IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly in April showed China building the airstrip on reclaimed land on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands.
She added that meanwhile relations between the two countries were undergoing “a momentum of development”, and expressed hope that “the Vietnamese side can work with China in the same direction and make concrete efforts to sustain the sound and stable growth of bilateral ties”. According to the Journal, the flight already has drawn a protest from Vietnam, which accused China of violating its sovereignty.
The kneejerk response to a Chinese flight in the South China Sea is in marked contrast to the decades during which Washington largely ignored confrontations and indeed clashes in the disputed waters. The South China Sea dispute has also become a growing tension between the USA and China.
Chinese officials have repeatedly said the new islands would be mostly for civilian use, such as coast guard operations and fishing research. Another solution would be transforming South China Sea into “another Antarctica where resources are guaranteed to everyone but military bases are forbidden”.
Public opinion on China has deteriorated in Vietnam since Beijing began drilling for oil in the Paracel Islands in May 2014. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.
China, which is defiant against all criticism and continues to claim nearly the entire South China Sea as its backyard, has been causing alarm among its neighbours as it builds up infrastructure on reefs in the disputed waters.
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But “repeated provocations” by the United States, such as sending vessels to the South China Sea, have forced China to ensure it has installations to protect people and facilities on the islands.
