BEIJING—Beijing landed a military plane on a disputed South China Sea reef it has built up into an artificial island, state media said Monday, in the first official confirmation of such a flight.
An air force plane landed on Fiery Cross reef in the Spratlys archipelago on Sunday to evacuate sick workers, the official People’s Liberation Army Daily said.
China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea, even waters close to its Southeast Asian neighbors, and has created artificial islands in an effort to assert its claims.
It has significantly expanded Fiery Cross, which is also claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines, drawing international criticism.
In 2014, China began work on a 3,000-meter (9,840 feet) runway on the reef, which is around 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from its island province of Hainan.
Beijing in January carried out several of what it called civilian flights to Fiery Cross, enraging Hanoi.
This weekend’s flight came just days after US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter visited a warship close to flashpoint waters, after announcing joint naval patrols with the Philippines.
On the day of Carter’s trip, Beijing said that one of its top military officials had visited a South China Sea island.
Fan Changlong, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, observed building work, the defense ministry said, without giving a precise date or location for the visit.
Washington regularly accuses Beijing of militarizing the South China Sea, saying it has built runways and deployed weapons to the islands.
Beijing denies the accusations and says US patrols have ramped up tensions.
Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs said it will verify report that a Chinese military aircraft landed on the disputed island.
In a text message, DFA spokesperson Charles Jose said that the department would validate the report before issuing any statement.
Only recently, the Philippines protested China’s test landing of a civilian plane on an airstrip it has built on an artificial island, the Kagitingan Reef, which is claimed by China, Philippines, and Vietnam.
Jose said Kagitingan was part of the Kalayaan Island Group that belonged to the Philippines.
China has become more assertive in pressing its claims to the South China Sea, building artificial islands on reefs in the Spratlys, an archipelago rich in natural resources that is the focal point of rival claims by neighboring countries.
The United States has criticized China’s construction of artificial islands in the sea and worries that it plans to use them for military purposes, even though China says it has no hostile intent.
The runways would be long enough to handle long-range bombers and transport aircraft as well as China’s best jet fighters, giving it a presence deep in the maritime heart of Southeast Asia that it has lacked until now.
Washington has criticized China’s construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea and worries that Beijing plans to use them for military purposes, even though China says it has no hostile intent
Besides the Philippines and Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan also claim parts or all of the South China Sea, which is crisscrossed by sea-lanes through which $5 trillion in global trade passes every year and where islets, reefs and atolls are believed to be sitting atop vast energy reserves.