Originally published on 26 May, 2015
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China hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday for the construction of two large lighthouses it says it is building to improve navigation safety in waters in the contested South China Sea.
The two multifunctional lighthouses are planned for Cuarteron Reef and Johnson South Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands.
Beijing has also recently said that it has the right to establish an Air Defense Identification Zone over the South China Sea.
“This is a cause for concern because China acts like there’s an ADIZ although there has been no formal declaration,” Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said in a televised press conference in Manilla reported by Bloomberg.
According to the Straits Times, the Philippines has defied China’s warnings by declaring that it will continue to fly military and commercial planes over the disputed area.
China has recently been challenging not only flights by the Philippines but also by the United States over disputed islands in the South China Sea. Last week, the Chinese navy warned an American P8-A Poseidon surveillance plane eight times to fly away from the area.
Washington has expressed concerns that China may at some point declare an exclusion zone in that could limit free movement of both aircrafts and ships in the area.
China’s lighthouse project, along with the recent warnings to the U.S. and Philippines, is likely escalate tensions in a region where China aggressively claims territory that is also claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
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