South China Sea | Chinese navy dispatches military plane to disputed man-made island

An aerial view of Taiwan’s Taiping island

China’s navy dispatched a military plane to one of the country’s manmade islands in the disputed South China Sea, the Defense Ministry said, in what 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.
That move drew complaints from Vietnam, which along with four other governments is enmeshed a heated dispute with Beijing over large parts of the South China Sea. Hanoi accused China of threatening the safety of civilian flights by failing to properly inform its aviation authorities of the flights beforehand.
The U.S. also complained that the flights raised tensions and reiterated its calls for a halt to land reclamation and militarization of outposts in the area. The Philippines, which also claims islands and reefs controlled by China, criticized the move.
The new islands in the South China Sea have become a source of tension between Beijing and Washington, which refuses to view them legally as islands entitled to territorial seas and special economic zones. While the United States is not a claimant state, it says it has a national interest in the peaceful settlement of disputes in the South China Sea and in freedom of navigation in waters that are critical for world trade.
The United States and China are making some high-profile military moves in the South China Sea — each sending a message to the other that it won’t back down.
Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, after announcing stepped-up cooperation with the Philippines, flew to the John C. Stennis aircraft carrier as it headed back on patrol in the sea.
Carter stood alongside his Philippine counterpart, Voltaire Gazmin, as they watched U.S. Navy fighter jets launch into vivid blue skies about 70 nautical miles west of the island of Luzon.
The Pentagon also said it was aware of the reports that China has deployed Sheyang J-11 fighter jets to Woody Island in the Paracel islands. Although such deployments are nothing new, Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Bill Urban said they are “less the issue than the signal it sends of how far out of step China’s actions are with the aspirations of the region.” AP