China has begun daily civilian charter flights to Woody Island in the disputed South China Sea after having approved the airport there for civil operations, state news agency Xinhua said yesterday. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of maritime trade passes each year. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims. Woody Island, in the Paracels which are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan, is the seat of what China calls Sansha City that is its administrative center for the South China Sea.

China begins daily civil flights to SCS outpost. (2016, December 23). The Philippine Star, pp. 1, 9.