Hughes Reef (
Mandarin , vi, đá Tư Nghĩa) is a reef in
Union Banks in the
Spratly group of islands,
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Ph ...
claimed by the
PRC (China), the
ROC (Taiwan), the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...
, and
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...
. It is only above water at low tide.
The
PRC has
reclaimed land on the reef, bringing its area to 7.6 hectares, and occupied the reef. The reef has a lighthouse on top of a two storied defence outpost.
Geographical features
On 12 July 2016, the tribunal of the
Permanent Court of Arbitration
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that a ...
concluded that Hughes Reef is, or in its natural condition was, exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide and, accordingly, its low-tide elevations do not generate an entitlement to a territorial sea, exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.
[ p.174]
Military development
In late 2016, photographs emerged which suggested that Hughes Reef has been armed with anti-aircraft weapons and a
CIWS missile-defence system.
See also
*
Great wall of sand
"Great Wall of Sand" is a name first used in March 2015 by US Admiral Harry Harris, who was commander of the Pacific Fleet, to describe a series of uniquely large-scale land reclamation projects by the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the ...
*
Nine-dotted line
References
External links
Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative Island Tracker
{{Spratly Islands topics
Reefs of the Spratly Islands
Reefs of China
Union Banks
Artificial islands of Asia