BEIJING: China condemned Vietnam over a report it had sped up island-building in an area of the disputed South China Sea that Beijing claims as its own.
"China firmly opposes the relevant country’s construction activities on islands and reefs they have illegally occupied,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun (pic) said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Monday (Aug 25).
"We will do what is necessary to safeguard our own territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”
Guo was responding to a report that Vietnam has accelerated work in the Spratlys. The report, released Friday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, uses satellite imagery to show all 21 Vietnamese-held outposts now feature artificial land.
The think tank estimates that as of March Vietnam has created about 70% as much artificial land in the Spratly Islands as China. With the addition of the eight newly reclaimed sites, it said that Vietnam is on track to "match - and likely surpass - the scale of Beijing’s island-building.”
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, where it has built numerous artificial islands. Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan also make competing claims, leading to disputes with China over where the boundaries fall.
Vietnam lodged a formal protest against China and the Philippines in May, accusing them of violating its sovereignty in the Spratlys.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. - Bloomberg
