China operationalises two light houses in South China Sea

BEIJING: China has completed the construction of two light houses in the disputed South China Sea amid assertions that it will not allow violation of its territorial waters in the name of freedom of navigation.

The Ministry of Transport held a completion ceremony for the construction of Huayang and Chigua Lighthouses on Huayang Reef of China's Nansha Islands, marking the start of the operation of the two lighthouses.

The Nansha islands also called Spratly Islands are also claimed by the Philippines and Vietnam.

China claims most of the South China Sea as its own which is hotly contested by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Japan and Taiwan.

The two lighthouses, as the first civil aids to navigation in the Nansha waters, will greatly improve the navigational conditions and reduce navigational risks and accidents by providing route guidance, safety information and emergency rescue and other public services to passing vessels, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.

Earlier Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying told a media briefing that "We will never allow any country to violate China's territorial waters and airspace in the Spratly Islands, in the name of protecting freedom of navigation and overflight."

"We urge the related parties not to take any provocative actions and genuinely take a responsible stance on regional peace and stability," Hua said responding to a question about the likelihood of US patrols.

She was responding to a remark by a US defence official that Washington is considering to send ships within the next two weeks to waters inside the 12-nautical-mile zones in the Spratly chain.