China has begun operating a lighthouse on one of its artificial islands in the South China Sea near which a US warship sailed last year to challenge China’s territorial claims.
China’s transport ministry held a “completion ceremony”, marking the start of operations at the 55-meter (180-ft) high lighthouse on Subi reef, where construction began in October, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Subi reef is where the US guided missile destroyer USS Lassen sailed within 12 nautical miles late October, it drew an angry rebuke from China, which called it “extremely irresponsible”.
Subi reef is an artificial island built up by china over the past year or so.
Before Chinese dredging turned it into an island, Subi was submerged at high tide. Under the United Nations’ convention on the law of the sea, 12-nautical-mile limits cannot be set around man-made islands built on previously submerged reefs.
Xinhua said the lighthouse, which emits a white light at night, “can provide efficient navigation services such as positioning reference, route guidance and navigation safety information to ships, which can improve navigation management and emergency response”.
China has lighthouse projects on two other reefs in the area – Cuarteron Reef and Johnson South Reef.