MANILA: On Monday (Apr 28), the Philippines criticized a report from Chinese state media as “irresponsible” for stating that a disputed reef in the South China Sea was under Beijing’s control, asserting that the situation remains unchanged.
The Sandy Cay reef is located near Thitu Island, also known as Pag-asa, where the Philippines has stationed troops and operates a coast guard monitoring facility.
On Saturday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that the Chinese coast guard had established “maritime control” over Tiexian Reef, which is part of Sandy Cay, in mid-April.
The Philippines and China have faced ongoing tensions concerning the South China Sea, an area that China claims almost entirely, despite a ruling from the international community declaring that claim legally baseless.
“The claim made by the China Coast Guard that the (Sandy Cay sandbanks) have been taken is completely false,” stated National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya during a press briefing.
“It serves the interests of the People’s Republic of China to manipulate information to intimidate and harass,” he said, labeling the Sandy Cay report as a “fabricated” narrative that was “irresponsible” to spread.
