# Diaoyu Senkaku

Red Flags and Spring Couplets at Sea: How China Marked Lunar New Year on Disputed Islands

State media showed Chinese coast guard vessels and island garrisons celebrating Lunar New Year with red flags, couplets and greetings on disputed features across the East and South China Seas. The displays combine domestic morale-boosting with a quiet assertion of continuous administrative and law-enforcement control over contested maritime areas.