I have a Google News Alert for both “Amateur Radio“ and “Ham Radio”. Each day I get sent a brief list of stories featuring both phrases, as identified by Google, and it’s mostly stories on operators, new equipment, deployments and, sadly, obituaries for “Silent Keys”.
One story in particular caught my eye recently. It was out-of the-ordinary and headed “Exclusive: One letter, four DX-peditions, 60,000 radio contacts: Chinese radio veteran reveals the international consensus on China’s sovereignty over Huangyan Dao”.
The article cites a letter from the 1990’s signed the Philippines Ambassador to Germany: “This letter was recently republished on social media by the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines, once again presenting irrefutable evidence of China’s sovereignty over Huangyan Dao,” the story says.
It goes into great depths to use decisions by the American Radio Relay League in the 1990’s and a multi-national DX-petitions to give legitimacy to its claim (disputed by the Philippines). The place in question is a shoal with a large lagoon and has no buildings or inhabitants, according Wikipedia.
The story is in “Global Times”, described by Wikipedia as: “ The Global Times is a daily tabloid newspaper published by the People’s Daily, which is the official flagship mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Founded in 1993 (with an English edition launched in 2009), it is widely known for its hawkish, highly nationalistic editorials and its role in broadcasting official and state-aligned perspectives on international relations.”.
Claude summarised the article as follows: “Between 1994 and 2007, Chinese radio veteran Chen Ping took part in four “DX-pedition” trips to the remote reef of Huangyan Dao (Scarborough Shoal), setting up temporary amateur stations under the special call sign BS7H. The first expedition was rejected by the ARRL as a valid DXCC entity because equipment stood in seawater rather than on dry rock; the 1995 trip fixed this by anchoring rigs on exposed outcrops, after which BS7H was formally certified. An international crew — Chinese, German, Finnish, Japanese, American and Filipino operators — logged more than 60,000 contacts with roughly 20,000 stations worldwide across the four trips, with the 2007 expedition alone recording over 45,000. Chen recalls brutal seasickness on the crossing, round-the-clock shift operating amid heavy interference, and the technical discipline required to make fast, valid two-way contacts. The article also uses the DXCC certification process and related correspondence to argue for China’s sovereignty claim over the reef — a claim disputed by the Philippines. Now in his 80s, Chen says he still hopes to see another BS7H expedition return to the island.”.
As Claude notes: “Note: this is a Chinese state-media outlet (Global Times), and the piece frames the DX-peditions as evidence for China’s sovereignty claim over Scarborough Shoal/Huangyan Dao/Bajo de Masinloc — a dispute the Philippines contests, so treat the territorial framing as one side’s account.”
Nonetheless, it’s interesting to see the depths the Chinese Government goes to press its claims for territorial sovereignty over land and sea. In this case, it was a multi-national DX-pedition.
This post isn’t about the ownership of the land and makes no assertions either way. It simply highlights an interesting aspect of the dispute and how a piece of amateur radio history is involved.
The Chinese Government has also taken to YouTube to press its claims and the story includes original audio from the DX-pedition.
17 July 2026