Vietnam has described the landing of a Chinese plane on an artificial island it has built in a contested part of the South China sea, as a violation of its sovereignty.
The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said the airfield was built illegally on a part of the Spratly archipelago that lies within its territory.
China insisted it has complete sovereignty over fiery cross reef and had used a civilian plane to test the airstrip.
Several nations disputed China’s territorial claims in the area, resulting in overlapping claims with Vietnam and the Philippines.
They accused China of illegally reclaiming land in contested areas to create artificial islands with facilities that could potentially be for military use.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said that China conducted the flight to test whether the airfield facilities met the standards for civil aviation.
“China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters. China will not accept the unfounded accusation from the Vietnamese side,” she said, referring to the Spratly Islands by their Chinese name.
Hanoi’s foreign ministry said Vietnam handed a protest note to China’s embassy and asked China not to repeat the action, Reuters news agency reported.
It called the flight “a serious infringement of the sovereignty of Vietnam on the Spratly archipelago”.
