A 1994 amateur radio application, vetted by the Philippine Amateur Radio Association, shows Manila once formally acknowledged Huangyan Dao was not its territory, expedition leader Chen Ping said.
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A 1994 amateur radio application, backed by a Philippine amateur association's own vetting, shows Manila once formally acknowledged that Huangyan Dao was not within its territory, according to archival records cited by a Chinese expedition leader in an interview with China Media Group (CMG).
Chen Ping, who led several Chinese amateur radio expeditions to the South China Sea feature in the 1990s, said the Philippine Amateur Radio Association consulted its government after the Chinese Radio Sports Association applied to register Huangyan Dao as a separate entity under the DX Century Club (DXCC) program. The Philippine side replied that the island was not under its territorial sovereignty, clearing the registration, Chen said.
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL), which administers the DXCC program, officially recognized Huangyan Dao as a separate DXCC entity in January 1996 and approved the callsign BS7H. Under international amateur radio rules, callsigns follow territorial jurisdiction. The prefix "B" denotes China; "H" stands for Huangyan Dao.
Chinese amateur radio operators mounted four expeditions to the island between 1994 and 2007 after receiving approval from Chinese authorities to set up temporary stations. Chen recalled that during the 1997 expedition, Philippine personnel arrived by patrol vessel and aircraft, asked about the team's activities, and left without making any territorial claim or demand.
The callsign BS7H remains officially recognized today. Chen said he carried documentary records from the DXCC application on later expeditions as evidence of China's exercise of jurisdiction over the feature.
The revelation comes as competing claims in the South China Sea remain a flashpoint in regional diplomacy. The radio logs offer a rare documentary trail of a specific moment when a claimant state explicitly disavowed sovereignty over a contested feature.
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Pan, CGTN America, 1 2023931850, [email protected]
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