Amateur radio has been pulled into an ongoing dispute
between China and the Philippines over ownership of Scarborough Reef in the
South China Sea. A report on Southgate Amateur Radio News says a Chinese
website (sina.com) claims that correspondence regarding amateur radio operation
from the reef supports Beijing's claim to sovereignty. 
According to the website, in 1990, the Philippine ambassador
to Germany informed a German ham that the reef was not within Philippine
territory, and that that was confirmed by a 1994 exchange of letters between
the Philippine Amateur Radio Association and the ARRL. For more, see <http://bit.ly/KCbFto>.
