Thread by @PJHeijmans

SCOOP: Chinese maritime militias have carried out construction activities at four features in the Spratly Islands in the first known instances of a SCS claimant doing so on territory it doesn’t already occupy, say western officials. Latest via @bpolitics

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

New land formations have appeared above water over the past year at Eldad Reef, the sources said. Other images showed physical changes at both Whitsun Reef and Sandy Cay, where previously submerged features now sit permanently above the high-tide line. #SouthChinaSea

Philippines reax: any reclamation activities by China on unoccupied features would contravene agreements between Beijing and SE Asian nations on conduct in disputed waters, as well as a 2016 ruling by an int'l tribunal that said China’s claims had no legal basis.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has called out China for its supposedly continuous reclamation activities in the unoccupied features in the South China Sea as they violate the existing agreement on the contested water.

Statement 👇👇👇

mb.com.ph/2022/12/21/ph-…