Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned China’s recently announced plan to establish a nature reserve on one of the most hotly contested shoals in the South China Sea, which rival claimant the Philippines has already protested.
The Chinese government approved a proposal on Wednesday to create a national nature reserve at Scarborough Shoal, which its National Forestry and Grassland Administration said would cover more than 3,500 hectares at Huangyan Island, the Chinese name for it.
Rubio came to the Philippines’ support on Friday, saying that Beijing’s actions “continue to undermine regional stability.”
“The United States stands with our Philippine ally in rejecting China’s destabilizing plans to establish a ‘national nature reserve’ at Scarborough Reef,” Rubio said. “Beijing claiming Scarborough Reef as a nature preserve is yet another coercive attempt to advance sweeping territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea at the expense of its neighbors, including by preventing Filipino fishermen from accessing these traditional fishing grounds.”
Scarborough Shoal is one of many islands, inlets, and reefs in the South China Sea that Beijing claims as its territory, which are disputed by other countries in the region.
The Philippine Foreign Affairs Department “strongly protests” Beijing’s plan and said it would “be issuing a formal diplomatic protest against this illegitimate and unlawful action by China as it clearly infringes upon the rights and interests of the Philippines in accordance with international law.”
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson responded that they did not “accept the Philippines’ unreasonable accusations and protests.”
The Philippines calls the Scarborough Shoal the Bajo de Masinloc. It is located about 125 miles off the coast of the Philippines and is within its exclusive economic zone. It’s long been a flashpoint between Beijing and Manila.
Taiwan also claims Scarborough Shoal, while Beijing claims the self-governing island is a part of China that should be under its control.
Beijing and Manila’s militaries have had showdowns in the South China Sea as they try to enforce their territorial claims. Last month, a Chinese navy ship collided with a Chinese Coast Guard ship while trying to block a Philippine Coast Guard vessel near the Scarborough Shoal.
The U.S. does not have any territorial claims in the South China Sea, but is obligated by treaty to defend the Philippines if its forces come under armed attack.
In the days after the collision between the Chinese military vessels, the U.S. deployed the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Higgins and the Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Cincinnati into the South China Sea for a freedom of navigation operation.
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A spokesperson for the Chinese Army Southern Threat Command claimed that a Chinese naval ship chased away the American vessel, though U.S. military officials disputed it.
Earlier this month, the U.S., Australia, Canada, and the Philippines conducted a Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet said.