Water Wars: Beijing Faces Further Pushback over Moves in the Asian Pacific

Jan 15, 2016 | Lawfare Staff
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Diplomatic protests continued this week over China’s landing of multiple civilian aircraft on Fiery Cross Reef—a PRC-held artificial island in the Spratly chain. In addition to the alleged violation of territorial rights, Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Authority complained that such flights “threaten the safety of all flights in the region.” In fact, in the first week of January alone, Chinese planes flew unannounced through Vietnam’s Flight Information Region 46 times. On this basis, Vietnam had filed a complaint with the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), in addition to its letter of formal diplomatic protest sent directly to the PRC.