China’s latest nature reserve is a rock in the middle of one of the world’s most contested waterways.
On Wednesday, the Chinese government approved a proposal to establish a national nature reserve at Scarborough Shoal, a hotly contested reef in the South China Sea, in an unprecedented move that has ignited a fresh war of words with rival claimant the Philippines.
The reserve will cover more than 3,500 hectares at Huangyan Island, the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal, with its coral reef ecosystem as the main protection target, according to China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration.
The move has drawn strong protest from the Philippines and marks a new step in China’s effort to reinforce its territorial claims in the South China Sea, a strategic, resource-rich waterway through which more than 60 percent of global maritime trade transits.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including features hundreds of miles from its mainland, despite a 2016 international ruling against its claim.
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