China lands first military plane on disputed S China Sea island
BEIJING: A military aircraft has for the first time landed at a new airport on an island China has built in the disputed South China Sea, state media said on Monday, raising the prospect that China could base fighter jets there.
The move is believed to be the first openly acknowledged mission of its kind.
A brief statement on the ministry’s website said the plane was on patrol when it was diverted to Fiery Cross Reef on Sunday morning to pick up three injured construction workers.
The plane then flew to Sanya on China’s southernmost island province of Hainan where it landed at Fenghuang International Airport, the ministry said.
Details about the plane and where it was based were not given, although a photo accompanying the report showed a four propeller Y-8 transport being met by an ambulance.
The Global Times newspaper said Sunday’s flight marked “the first time a Chinese military plane has openly landed on Yongshujiao”, using the Chinese name for Fiery Cross Reef. The speed with which the mission was accomplished was a testament to China’s long-term policy of patrolling over the South China Sea, said the paper, a nationalist tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.
China completed the runway on Fiery Cross Reef last year and in January flew three commercial jets to the island as a test. AP