Test flight to S China Sea airport falls within sovereignty (Chinese FM)

China conducted a test flight to a new airport on Yongshu Jiao of Nansha Islands with a civil aircraft in order to test whether or not the facilities on it meet the standards for civil aviation, which falls completely within China’s sovereignty, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying on Saturday.

China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters. The Chinese side will not accept the unfounded accusation from the Vietnamese side, according to Hua.

It is reported that the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson  made a statement on Saturday, expressing Vietnam’s protest against China’s test flight to a newly-built airport on Yongshu Jiao of the Nansha Islands.

China-Vietnam relations, on the whole, are riding a momentum of development. It is hoped that the Vietnamese side can work with China towards the same direction and make concrete efforts to sustain the sound and stable growth of bilateral ties, said Hua.
  Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
  3/1/16
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Vietnam formally accused China of violating its sovereignty and a recent confidence-building pact on Saturday by landing a plane on an airstrip Beijing has built in a contested part of the South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said China had conducted a test-flight to the airfield, "built illegally on Fiery Cross Reef, which is part of Vietnam's Spratlys".

In a statement, he called it "a serious infringement of the sovereignty of Vietnam on the Spratly archipelago, contrary to the common perception of high-ranking leaders of the two countries and (to) an agreement on the basic principles for directly solving maritime issues between Vietnam and China".

Vietnam handed a protest note to China's embassy and asked China not to repeat the action, Binh said.......http://www.reuters.com/article/us-vietnam-china-protests-idUSKBN0UG0FA20160102?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
2/1/16