China To Set Up Nature Reserve At Disputed South China Sea Shoal

2025-09-10 09:02:09

(MENAFN- Live Mint) China will establish a nature reserve at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, a step that will likely inflame tensions with Manila in the resource-rich waterway.

China's cabinet, the State Council, has approved a proposal by the Ministry of Natural Resources to build a national nature reserve on Huangyan Island, according to an official notice published Wednesday. Huangyan Island is what Beijing calls the Scarborough Shoal, an atoll it effectively controls but claimed by the Philippines.

The size and boundary of the national reserve will be disclosed separately, the State Council said in the statement. The move“is an important safeguard to protect the diversity, stability and sustainability of Huangyan Island's natural ecosystem,” according to the post.

Beijing's plan marks the latest in a series of moves to assert sovereignty that risk escalating tensions with other claimants to the South China Sea. China's claims to parts of the waters - which are contested by countries including Vietnam and Malaysia - have led to multiple maritime incidents.

In August, a China Coast Guard vessel had its bow badly damaged in a collision with a People's Liberation Army Navy ship during an incident with a Philippine Coast Guard ship around the Scarborough Shoal.

That same month, the Chinese navy said it expelled a US Navy ship from the area. The US Navy rejected that characterization, describing the operation as a lawful assertion of navigational rights.

A national nature reserve, under China's law, can be divided into a core area that's strictly out of bounds, a buffer area that allows only scientific research activities and an experimental zone that permits research and visits. Any foreigners who want to visit a national reserve must seek approval from Chinese authorities.

With assistance from Jing Li.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

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