China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region.
A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration.
“The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said.
Photo: Reuters
Scarborough Shoal, which is known in the Philippines as the Panatag Shoal, has long been a flash point in the dispute between Beijing and Manila over sovereignty over and fishing access to a conduit for more than US$3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce.
The Philippine embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, overlapping the exclusive economic zones of Taiwan, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Unresolved disputes have festered for years over ownership of islands and features.
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China’s sweeping claims in the region were not supported by international law, a decision that Beijing rejects.
Tensions have simmered in the past few years in the strategic waterway. Last month, Manila and Beijing traded accusations over an encounter at the Scarborough Shoal in which a Chinese navy ship collided with a China Coast Guard vessel while trying to block a Philippine Coast Guard ship.
Philippine military officials said the high-speed crash might have killed at least two Chinese personnel, based on video footage.
Later last month, the Philippines, Australia and Canada deployed aircraft and three warships for drills against simulated aerial threats east of the same shoal.
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