Manila, April 29 -- The Philippines criticised a "reckless" report from Chinese state media on Monday, which claimed that a contested reef in the South China Sea was under Beijing's control, asserting that the "status quo" remains unchanged, as reported by the Taipei Times.

Tiexian Reef, also referred to as Sandy Cay Reef, is located near Thitu Island, or Pagasa, where the Philippines has stationed troops and operates a coast guard monitoring base.

According to the Taipei Times, the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV stated on Saturday that the China Coast Guard had "implemented maritime control" over Tiexian Reef earlier this month.

There have been ongoing confrontations between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, an area th...