Chinese aircraft land at South China Sea airports

Two Chinese civilian aircraft have landed at two new airports on reefs controlled by China in the South China Sea a day after a tribunal in The Hague denied Beijing's claims to the energy-rich waters.

The aircraft touched down on Mischief Reef and Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands on Wednesday before returning to the southern Chinese island province of Hainan from where they had taken off, the official Xinhua news agency said.

China also said it has the right to set up an air defense zone in the area as it pledged to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty over the South China Sea.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said Beijing could declare an air defense identification zone over the waters if it felt threatened.

"We hope that other countries will not take this opportunity to threaten China and work with China to protect the peace and stability of the South China Sea, and not let it become the origin of a war."

China's ambassador to the US blamed the rise in tension in the region on the United States' "pivot" toward Asia in the past few years.

SS