Reporters get 'Welcome to China' text on Second Thomas Shoal

Text message sent to reporters

A few days earlier we had reported:

http://www.asiandefencenews.com/2014/04/philippine-sailors-gloat-after-china.html

The Philippines has adopted tougher measures to assert its sovereignty claim over the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, known as Ayungin Shoal to the Philippines and Renai Reef to China. Reporters visiting the shoal were greeted however by the Chinese-language text message "Welcome to China" sent to their phones by a Chinese telecom operator.

Manila has deployed a detachment of marines to a beached World War II-era tank-landing ship which serves as a military outpost on the reef in the Spratly islands, some 194 kilometers west of the Philippines' western province of Palawan, and has taken the territorial dispute to the International Court for arbitration, a move which Beijing has strongly condemned.

When journalists sailed to the reef aboard Philippine fishing boats, they all received the "Welcome to China" text. China Mobile, one of the "big three" telecom operators in China, confirmed that the messages were sent to several smartphones belonging to Philippine nationals who connected to its network from the islet on March 29. Their phones were registered to a Philippine telecom operator and dozens of calls were made and messages sent from the shoal. The operator has been investigating these calls, reports People's Daily.

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20140405000139&cid=1101