Philippines protests to China over land reclamation in disputed reef
Manila says Beijing is reclaiming land on a reef in the disputed Spratly Islands and seems to be constructing an airstrip
The Philippines has protested against China's reclamation of land at a disputed reef in the South China Sea that can be used to build an airstrip.
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Manila filed a diplomatic protest against the reclamation on the Johnson South Reef last month, but Beijing rejected it on grounds that the reef is part of Chinese territory.
Asked if China was building an airstrip on the reef, which is also claimed by Vietnam, Del Rosario said: "That's one possibility."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying would not confirm the Philippine claims but said China had sovereignty over the reef.
"Whatever construction China carries out on the reef is a matter entirely within the scope of China's sovereignty. I don't know what particular intentions the Philippines has in caring so much about this," Hua said.
Philippine officials said the nation's military surveillance aircraft had been documenting large-scale earth-moving activity on the reef since January. Philippine aircraft searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in March also spotted the reclamation, officials said.
Photos claiming to show reclamation around the reef have been circulated in the Chinese online community. The state-run Global Times, quoting an unnamed source, reported that China was merely renovating facilities on the reef.