Vietnam accused China for threatening peace in South China Sea after China landed two civilian aircraft in Spratly Islands in South China Sea. The area has been a dispute between China, Vietnam, Philippines and Malaysia.
Channel News Asia reported that Vietnam has issued its second rebuke in a week to Beijing, after more Chinese aircraft landed on a contested reef in the South China Sea. China landed two civilian planes on one of the lands in the Fiery Cross reef in the disputed Spratly Islands, which are claimed by Hanoi but controlled by Beijing.
On Thursday, Vietnam Foreign Ministry make an official announcement regarding Chinese action. Le Hai Binh, the ministry spokesman said in the statement, "The landings are a serious violation of Vietnam's sovereignty and threaten peace and stability in the region."
China News Agency, Xinhua argued that the artifical island with a newly-built airfield is aimed to serve the needs of the great many vessels and seafarers in South China Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. China called the artificial island as Yongshu Jiao and the plane landing was to test its airfield. Both airplane took off from the Meilan Airport of Haikou, capital of Hainan Province.
China also claimed that its sovereignty over the island in Spratly is undisputed and self-evident. Within more than three years, China has built three reclamation islands on the islands for its airbase. The new runway in Yongshu Jiao is a 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) long, which is able to support large aircraft operation.
China insist that its airfield its artificial island is for the safety of vesels traveling South China Sea, and to facilitate search and rescue, disaster prevention and reduction, and research and conservation from a Chinese land base. However many foreign officials and analyst doubted that. Taipei Times reported that the airfield will increase Chinese military presence in the disputed sea and could effectively lead to a Beijing-controlled air defense zone.
Following official complaint from Vietnam, Phillipines is planning to do the same as both countries also have claims on the disputed islands. Philippines Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said, "That's the fear, that China will be able take control of the South China Sea and it will affect the freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight,"
Spratly Islands is called Nansha in Chinese, Philippine called it as Kapuluan ng Kalayaan in Tagalog, or Qua'n da'o Tru'ong Sa in Vietnamese. It covers an archipelago over 425,000 km2 (164,000 sq mi) off-coast Philippine, Malaysia and Vietnam.
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