Satellite images of the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in the South China Sea show a new floating barrier across its entrance, near where Philippine ships and Chinese coast guard vessels have had frequent run-ins.
One of the images taken by Maxar Technologies on Thursday last week and viewed by Reuters showed the barrier blocking the mouth of the shoal, where the Chinese coast guard last week claimed to have driven off a Philippine vessel “illegally intruding” into Beijing’s waters.
Manila, which last week deployed a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel to patrol the shoal and transport fuel to Filipino fishers in the area, said that China’s claims were “inaccurate” and that Manila’s activities there were lawful.
Photo: Maxar Technologies via Reuters
China claims the Scarborough Shoal, although it is inside the Philippines’ 200 nautical mile (370km) exclusive economic zone. An international arbitration tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2016 said that China’s claims had no legal basis — a decision Beijing has rejected.
That makes the atoll one of Asia’s most contested maritime features, and a flashpoint for diplomatic flare-ups over sovereignty and fishing rights.
The satellite image bolsters a report and video distributed by the Philippine Coast Guard on Sunday showing two Chinese coast guard inflatable boats deploying floating barriers at the shoal’s entrance on Thursday last week.
It said that a Chinese coast guard ship shadowed the BFAR vessel, conducted blocking maneuvers about 1.3 nautical miles off the shoal, and closely approached it.
“We can assume that [the barrier] is intended for Philippine government vessels because they install it every time they monitor our presence within the BDM vicinity,” Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela said, referring to Bajo de Masinloc, Manila’s name for the shoal.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) said that Huangyan Island, China’s name for the shoal, was “China’s inherent territory.”
“Recently, the Philippine side has taken a series of actions to violate China’s sovereignty” in the shoal’s waters, she said. “China has to take necessary measures to firmly safeguard its territorial sovereignty, and maritime rights and interests.”
Another satellite image showed what Maxar Technologies described as “possible Chinese interception of a BFAR vessel” at the shoal.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce. Its territorial claims overlap with those of Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
“What we are seeing at the Scarborough Shoal now is likely the beginning of Beijing’s pushback against Manila’s pushback,” said Ian Storey, a senior fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.
Since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr took office in June 2022, the Philippines has challenged China’s presence at the shoal and its attempts to stop the resupply of Filipino troops stationed at Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙), he said.
“China’s attempts to prevent Filipino fishermen from fishing at Scarborough Shoal is absolutely illegal,” Storey said. “The 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling gave fishermen from both countries the right to [fish there]. Manila is merely supporting the legitimate rights of Filipino fishermen.”
The shoal is coveted for its bountiful fish stocks and a stunning turquoise lagoon that provides a safe haven for vessels during storms.
The Chinese removed the barrier a few hours after the BFAR vessel left, Tarriela said.
It was not clear from the photographs how robust the barrier was and whether it would have posed an obstacle to larger warships.
In an article on Sunday, China’s Global Times said that “the Philippines has abused and unilaterally sabotaged the foundation of Beijing’s goodwill to Manila” that allowed Filipino fishers to operate nearby, by working against China’s sovereignty and jurisdiction.
“If such provocations persist, China could be forced to take more effective measures to control the situation,” the article said, citing experts.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS