BEIJING (Reuters) – China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, the government said on Wednesday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims and maritime rights in the contested region.
Scarborough Shoal, which Beijing calls Huangyan Island and which is known in the Philippines as the Panatag Shoal, has long been a flashpoint in the dispute between Beijing and Manila over sovereignty over and fishing access to a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce.
The Philippine embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, overlapping the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Unresolved disputes have festered for years over ownership of various 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 recent years in the strategic waterway. Last month, Manila and Beijing traded accusations over an encounter at the Scarborough Shoal that resulted in the first known collision between Chinese vessels in the area.
The designation of the nature reserve is “an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability, and sustainability of the atoll’s natural ecosystem,” China’s State Council said.
The specific boundaries and zoning of the reserve will be announced separately by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, it added.
(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Louise Heavens)
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