China said it had carried out a scientific expedition in Scarborough Shoal, amid renewed confrontation with the Philippines over the disputed South China Sea atoll.
The research mission – which began on May 20 – involved deploying a floating platform for environmental monitoring and sampling, the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ South China Sea Institute of Oceanology said in a statement on Wednesday.
It came after Manila lodged a formal diplomatic protest on Tuesday against what it called the “illegal presence” of a floating structure in Scarborough Shoal.
The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea – an inter-agency body that oversees Manila’s maritime strategy in the South China Sea – said aerial monitoring of the shoal had detected a floating platform that appeared to be an antenna.
China’s foreign ministry said it was legitimately exercising its right to carry out activities “including scientific research” at Scarborough Shoal and urged the Philippines to stop its “sensationalist hype”.
The research institute said its expedition had covered the entire shoal with the aim of collecting data on the geological evolution and physiological responses of coral reefs to environmental changes.
Scarborough Shoal is about 124 nautical miles (230km or 143 miles) off the Philippine coast. It is a triangular coral reef surrounding a lagoon and is known as Huangyan Island in China and Panatag Shoal in the Philippines.
The shoal has become a major flashpoint in the long-running dispute between the two countries over the South China Sea.
In September last year, Beijing announced the establishment of a nature reserve at the shoal, fuelling debate over Chinese efforts to build permanent facilities there.
Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela told reporters on Wednesday that its maritime domain awareness flight on May 30 had been intercepted by a Chinese People’s Liberation Army fighter jet.
He also noted that there were no dredging vessels – used to build artificial islands – in the area.
“Definitely, we still don’t know what they’re conducting,” Tarriela said.
“But I would like to believe that the Chinese research vessels’ presence is the reason why they have a platform there.” -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
