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China’s decision to proclaim sovereignty over a reef contested at the Southern China Sea sparked a new dead end with the Philippines, raising tensions between the two rival applicants on the eve of the nearby American-Philippine military exercises.
The Philippines sent the Philippines, the Coast Guards, the Coast Guard and the Maritimes on Sunday to Sandy Cay and two neighboring sand banks in the Spratly Islands to “maintain the country’s sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction” and displayed the national flag, according to a statement Posted on X.
This decision one day came after China declared that it had “implemented maritime control and exercised sovereign jurisdiction” on the reef by showing his own flag There – the first official declaration of sovereignty on or near a terrestrial characteristic in the disputed waters in at least a decade.
The rank on Sandy Cay comes while the Philippine and American troops should begin Coastal defense and island crisis exercises On the closest Philippin territory to Spratlys on Monday.
Although just a sand bank measuring just over 200 m², Sandy Cay has a strategic value because its categorization as a rock could allow the nation to control it to claim a territorial sea around it. This 12 -kilo radius Philippines“The most important military point in the region.
The White House said on Saturday that reports China Seizing Sandy Cay was “deeply worrying if she is true”. James Hewitt, spokesperson for the National Security Council, said: “Actions like these threaten regional stability and violate international law.”
China claims the Southern China Sea almost in its entirety, but the permanent court of arbitration in The Hague in 2016 judge This was incompatible with international law. The Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei all claim part of the strategically located sea and certain islands and reefs.
But Beijing most often clashed with the Philippines since Manila resumed to assert his maritime rights after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr took office in June 2022.
Beijing surpasses all rival applicants because he has the The biggest coast guard in the world And the maritime militia and built military bases with missiles, radars and Air Force assets on a certain number of artificial islands in the region.
Sandy Cay is one of the four reefs in which Manila suspected China of planning works of restoration of land followed by additional militarization.
The Chinese Coast Guard said on Sunday that his police officers landed on Sandy Cay on Sunday to investigate and “manage” what he called “illegal” acts of Filipino officials.
None of the two parties reported a direct commitment. Images published by the Coast Guard of the Philippines have shown no Chinese presence on the reef. But according to the Declaration of the Coast Guard of the Philippines and the data monitoring of ships examined by the Financial Times, a Chinese coast guard ship and several Chinese maritime ships continue to stroll around him.
