PLA ‘expels’ vessel near South China Sea station

Military boats chased away approaching ship near artificial island, state media says

Chinese military personnel stationed on a reclaimed South China Sea island “expelled” an approaching ship, state broadcaster CCTV has said in a report.

The report said the incident occurred near Fiery Cross Reef, an artificial island in the disputed Spratly archipelago.

It did not specify the nationality of the vessel, its type or when the incident occurred in the area known in the country as Yongshu Reef. It also did not air footage of eviction. Instead, it showed a re-enactment of People’s Liberation Army troops detecting the target, guarding positions on the island and sending speedboats to chase the ship away. According to the re-enactment, soldiers at the reef’s radar station identified a suspicious target 15km away, prompting battalion commander Wang Kaijuan to order his troops to take forward positions.

A dozen garrison soldiers took their weapons in positions nearby, while others boarded at least three CSK-181 light tactical vehicles. Two military speedboats headed towards the target at high speed.

CCTV said Wang had responded to more than 100 similar incidents “face to face with opponents from different countries”, without saying whether they all took place in the Spratlys.

Fiery Cross Reef is one of China’s biggest land reclamation projects in the South China Sea and is part of plans to cement its presence in the strategically important waterway.

In 2015, Beijing said it had halted land reclamation in the waters, but there have been reports that China has continued to fortify the islands with advanced military bases as well as missile systems, radar, runways and fighter jets.

It started to deploy its biggest warplane, the Y-20 transporter, to Fiery Cross in 2021 to pick up off-duty soldiers while bringing in fresh supplies for the troops, according to state media.

Tensions are high in parts of the South China Sea, one of the world’s most important trade routes and a conduit for annual ship-borne commerce worth more than US$3 trillion.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire sea with a “nine-dash line” on maps that stretches more than 1,500km off its mainland and cuts into the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.