China aims to launch a series of offshore nuclear power platforms to promote development in the South China Sea, state media said yesterday, days after an international court ruled Beijing had no historic claims to most of the waters.
Sovereignty over the South China Sea is contested by Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, and any move to build nuclear reactors is bound to stoke further tension in the region.
The China Securities Journal said 20 offshore nuclear platforms could eventually be built in the region, as the country seeks to “speed up the commercial development” of the South China Sea.
“China’s first floating nuclear reactor will be assembled by the China Shipbuilding Industry Corp’s (CSIC, 中國船舶重工集團公司) subsidiary, Bohai Heavy Industry (渤船重工), and the company will build 20 such reactors in the future,” the newspaper said.
“The marine nuclear power platform will provide energy and freshwater to the Nansha Islands (南沙群島),” it said, referring to the disputed Spratly Islands.
The newspaper cited a social media post by the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC, (中國核工企業集團), which has since been deleted.
The Global Times, an influential tabloid published by the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, announced similar news in April and said the nuclear power platforms could “sail” to remote areas and provide a stable power supply.
“The news is old,” an expert with the China Nuclear Energy Association said.
“It is repeated in reaction to the latest South China Sea disputes,” the expert, who declined to be identified, told reporters. “Little progress has been made on building such a small reactor.”
When asked at a daily news briefing, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang (陸慷) said he did not know anything about the plans.
Floating reactors were first proposed in the US in the 1970s, but then abandoned. The first demonstration of the technology is due to be launched in Russia next year.
“This will need several years of design and safety analysis before it can go into full construction,” Xiamen University School of Energy Research dean Li Ning (李寧) said.
A spokesman for CNNC told reporters the floating reactors plan had been drawn up by its affiliate, the Nuclear Power Institute of China, and a final decision would be made by CSIC.
CSIC was not immediately available for comment.
In related news, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed with his Vietnamese counterpart that an arbitration court’s decision this week on the South China Sea must be observed, Japan’s Kyodo news agency said yesterday.
The court in The Hague ruled that China has no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and that it has breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights with its actions, infuriating Beijing, which dismissed the case as a farce.
Abe and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc were in Mongolia for a summit of Asian and European leaders.
Meanwhile, the China Coast Guard prevented Filipino boats from fishing around Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), Philippine officials said yesterday.
A dispute over the shoal, 124 nautical miles (229.7km) northwest of the Philippines was one of Manila’s main reasons for bringing international legal action against China in 2013.
Military officials and fishermen in northwest Pangasinan province said coast guard vessels remained in place at Scarborough and were still preventing fishermen from entering the shoal’s lagoon.
Many boats have stayed away until the situation becomes clearer, officials said.
“The fishermen here have a wait-and-see attitude and are feeling their pulse whether it is safe to go to Scarborough,” Luis Madarang, an official responsible for fishing in the town of Infanta, said by telephone.
“We are not stopping them, but cautioned them to stay away from any trouble in the area. It will not help the situation if they will challenge the Chinese who are still there,” he added.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from