China completed the construction of two lighthouses in the disputed South China Sea on Friday (October 9), the official Xinhua news agency reported, as tensions in the region mount over Beijing’s maritime ambitions.
A completion ceremony was held for the lighthouses on Cuateron Reef and Johnson South Reef in the Spratly islands on late Friday, the official Xinhua news agency said. The United States and the Philippines have opposed the construction.
State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of the ceremony and one of the newly-completed lighthouses, which they refer to as Huayang and Chigua, the Chinese names for Cuateron Reef and Johnson South Reef.
Zeng Hui, Director of the Protection Division of the Bureau of Maritime Affairs of China’s ministry of transportation said the construction was to help vessels navigating through the South China Sea.
“The construction of the Huayang and Chigua lighthouses are firstly to provide navigational services for all countries’ vessels travelling through the South China Sea, including some effective information services, and at the same time, filling in the gap for our our countries’ for infrastructure to guide our countries’ ships. In this way, we have strengthened navigational safety,” she said.
China claims most of the energy-rich South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims.
China said on Friday it would not stand for violations of its territorial waters in the name of freedom of navigation, as the United States considers sailing warships to waters inside the 12-nautical-mile zones around islands it has built in the Spratly chain.
Washington has signalled it does not recognise Beijing’s sovereignty over the several islands China has built on reefs in the Spratly archipelago and says the U.S. navy will continue to operate wherever international law allows.
The issue is central to increasingly tense relations between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies.
Beijing has said construction in the region is to help maritime search and rescue, disaster relief, environmental protection and navigational security. It has also said it will continue to build other installations to better serve countries in the region and vessels navigating those waters. (CCTV)
