page_title: Fiery Cross Reef
section_title: Land reclamation
hierarchical_section_title: Fiery Cross Reef / Land reclamation
caption_attribution_description: English: Fiery Cross Reef, Spratly Islands, South China Sea, in May 2015
context_page_description: Fiery Cross Reef, also known as "Northwest Investigator Reef", "Yongshu Reef" by the Chinese, "Kagitingan Reef" by the Filipinos, and "Đá Chữ Thập" by the Vietnamese is a militarised reef occupied and controlled by China as part of Sansha of Hainan Province and is also claimed by the Republic of China, the Philippines and Vietnam.
  The reef was named after the British tea clipper Fiery Cross, which was wrecked on the reef on 4 March 1860. The reef was surveyed by Lieutenant J. W. Reed of HMS Rifleman, who in 1867 reported it to be one extensive reef, and found the apparent wrecks of Fiery Cross and Meerschaum.
  It was named "Fiery Cross Reef" or "Northwestern Investigator Reef" by the government of China in 1935. In 1947, it was renamed "Yongshu Reef" by the government. At that time, Chinese fishermen called it "Tuwu".
  The reef was occupied by China in 1988 when they were asked to build a UNESCO Marine observation station there, despite immediate opposition from Vietnam leading to armed conflict in March of that year. In 2014, the PRC commenced reclamation activity in the area, and it has been converted into an artificial island of 274 hectares.
context_section_description: During 2014, the PRC government began reclamation activities to construct a large artificial island to support an approximately 3,300 metres (10,800 ft) airstrip, a seaport and a military garrison.
  Although the PRC has a 3,000-metre (9,800 ft) runway on Woody Island in the Paracels, it had been at a disadvantage compared with other claimants of areas of the South China Sea as it was the only claimant that did not have an airfield in the Spratly Islands. As of January 2016, the PRC has reclaimed land on seven reefs and built three runways within the Spratly Islands. The runway on Fiery Cross was completed in January 2016 and is the southernmost of the three (the others being at Mischief and Subi reefs). The PRC test-landed two civilian aircraft there in January 2016, one from China Southern Airlines and the other from Hainan Airlines.
  The People's Liberation Army Daily reported that a Chinese military jet had made a public landing there in April 2016. It has been asserted that other PRC military aircraft, including jet fighters, have been observed there since April 2016.
  In late 2016, photographs emerged which suggested that Fiery Cross Reef has been armed with anti-aircraft weapons and a CIWS missile-defence system.
caption: Fiery Cross Reef being transformed, May 2015
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