Fiery Cross Reef
| Disputed island Other names: Northwest Investigator Reef / Yongshu Reef / Kagitingan Reef / Đá Chữ Thập |
|
|---|---|
Satellite image from 2000m
|
|
| Geography | |
 |
|
| Location | South China Sea |
| Coordinates | 9°32′57″N 112°53′21″E / 9.54917°N 112.88917°ECoordinates: 9°32′57″N 112°53′21″E / 9.54917°N 112.88917°E |
| Archipelago | Spratly Islands |
| Area | Natural: 0 ha Reclaimed: 274 ha |
| Administered by | |
| People's Republic of China | |
| Prefecture-level city | Sansha |
| Claimed by | |
| People's Republic of China | |
| Republic of the Philippines | |
| Taiwan | |
| Vietnam | |
Fiery Cross Reef, also known as "Northwest Investigator Reef", Yongshu Island (永暑岛) or Yongshu Reef (永暑礁) by the Chinese, "Kagitingan Reef" by the Filipinos, and "Đá Chữ Thập" by the Vietnamese, was a group of three reefs on the western edge of Dangerous Ground in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. The area is controlled by China (as part of Sansha) and is also claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The reef was named after the Fiery Cross, a British Tea Clipper lost there on 4 March 1860 (later its more famous sister ship took the same name). The reef was surveyed by Lieutenant J. W. Reed of the HMS Rifleman, who reported it to be one extensive reef in 1867, and found the apparent wrecks of the Fiery Cross and the Meerschaum.
Fiery Cross Reef has been occupied by China since 1988 when a UNESCO Marine observation station was built there. In 2014, China commenced reclamation activity in the area, and it has been converted into an artificial island of 2.74 square kilometres (1.06 sq mi). There were around 200 Chinese troops on the reef in late 2014, though this number was likely to have increased significantly in 2015 with the addition of support personnel for the new airbase (including 3,125 m-long runway) and associated early warning radar site.
On 12 July 2016, the tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration concluded that Fiery Cross Reef contains, within the meaning of Article 121(1) of the Convention, naturally formed areas of land, surrounded by water, which are above water at high tide. However, for purposes of Article 121(3) of the Convention, the high-tide features at Fiery Cross Reef is rocks that cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own and accordingly shall be entitled to 12nm of territorial sea measured from its baseline but have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.
...
Wikipedia