Chinese scientists land on Sandy Cay reef as tensions with Philippines spike once again
Manila says it sent a plane over the South China Sea reef in an effort to ‘drive away’ those carrying out ‘unauthorised’ research activity
The Philippines said the Chinese-flagged research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 33 had been spotted near the reef on Saturday, escorted by two coastguard ships.
Jay Tarriela, a spokesman for the Philippine coastguard, said that “Chinese personnel were observed landing and conducting illegal activities.”
He said the Philippine coastguard carried out a “maritime domain awareness flight” on Sunday to “address and drive away unauthorised marine scientific research activities”, adding that such actions constituted a violation of Philippine sovereignty and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Tensions between the rival claimants have been rising over the past few weeks, with Manila accusing Beijing of deploying maritime militia and coastguard ships in contested areas of the South China Sea.