

Personnel from the Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard and Philippine Nationwide Police-Maritime Group maintain the Philippine flag as they go to Sandy Cay 2 on the South China Sea on Sunday, April 27, 2025. — Photograph from Nationwide Job Pressure West Philippine Sea through Related Press
Vietnam on Saturday protested claims by China and the Philippines over a disputed reef within the South China Sea which it considers its personal territory.
Manila and Beijing traded barbs final week over Sandy Cay, a gaggle of small sandbanks within the waterway’s Spratly Islands, after a Chinese language state media report instructed the realm had been seized.
The Philippines and China have been engaged in months of confrontations over the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety regardless of a global ruling that its assertion has no authorized foundation.
On Saturday Vietnam’s overseas ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Cling stated in an announcement posted on the federal government’s official web site that Hanoi had “issued protest notes to the international locations concerned concerning violations of its sovereignty over Sandy Cay.”
READ: NMC: Sandy Cay declare is evident ‘instance’ of China gov’t disinformation
Vietnam considers the resource-rich Spratly Islands — which lie some 500 kilometers (310 miles) off its east coast — as a part of its territory.
Pham Thu Cling stated that Vietnam calls for “related events” respect its sovereignty over the archipelago, urging them to “chorus from actions that additional complicate the state of affairs.”
Chinese language state broadcaster CCTV stated final week that the nation’s coast guard had “applied maritime management” over Tiexian Reef, a part of Sandy Cay, in mid-April.
Days later the Philippine Coast Guard launched its personal photograph exhibiting Filipino sailors holding the nation’s flag over the identical disputed reef throughout an early morning mission the day earlier than.
The Sandy Cay reef lies close to Thitu Island, or Pag-asa, the place the Philippines stations troops and maintains a coast guard monitoring base.
The South China Sea is house to helpful oil and fuel deposits and essential transport lanes, and several other of China’s neighbors have voiced concern that Beijing is looking for to increase its attain.
Vietnam, together with a number of different international locations within the area, additionally claims elements of the strategic waterway.
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