Beijing draws baselines around shoal in Manila’s jurisdiction to fortify claims

China has announced the baselines of its territorial sea around the Scarborough Shoal to strengthen its claim over the South China Sea feature that lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

Beijing has also formally named 64 islands and reefs, many of which are claimed by several countries, risking escalating tensions with its neighbors.

A baseline under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, is a line that runs along the coast of a country or an island, from which the extent of the territorial sea and other maritime zones such as the exclusive economic zone and extended continental shelf are measured.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday that the government delimited and announced the baselines of the territorial sea adjacent to Huangyan Dao “in accordance with international law,” referring to the shoal by its Chinese name.

“This is a natural step by the Chinese government to lawfully strengthen marine management and is consistent with international law and common practices,” the Chinese foreign ministry said.

“Huangyan Dao has always been China’s territory.”

Radio Free Asia (RFA), a news service affiliated with BenarNews, contacted the Philippine foreign department for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Scarborough Shoal, known in the Philippines as Bajo de Masinloc, is a triangular chain of reefs about 125 nautical miles (232 kilometers) from Luzon, the main Philippine island.

Claimed by China, the Philippines and Taiwan, the shoal has been under Beijing’s de-facto control since 2012.

In 2016, a U.N. arbitration tribunal ruled against all of China’s claims to the reefs in the South China Sea, including to the Scarborough Shoal.

It also ruled that Scarborough Shoal is a rock, not an island, which means that even if the shoal is entitled to a 12-nautical-mile territorial sea, it cannot generate an exclusive economic zone but instead is recognized as part of the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of the Philippines.

'Cornering the Philippines’

Beijing’s announcement came immediately after Manila passed two laws  to bolster its maritime claims, one of which, according to the Philippine senator who authored the legislation, is an enforcement of the 2016 arbitral ruling.

The laws aim to declare the Philippines’ maritime zones in accordance with the standards set by UNCLOS, and seek to confine foreign vessels and aircraft to designated archipelagic sea lanes.

Beijing “strongly condemns and firmly rejects,” the laws the Chinese foreign ministry said.

The ministry also reiterated that China had neither accepted nor participated in the 2016 arbitration, nor did it accept or recognize the ruling.

Also on Sunday, the Chinese ministries of natural resources and of civil affairs announced Chinese standard geographical names for 64 islands and reefs in the South China Sea. 

These included several features within the Second Thomas Shoal and Sabina Shoal, both also claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

The naming is seen by analysts as a bid to assert China’s sovereignty over the features.

“China is really pushing the Philippines to the corner … now Manila has no choice but to respond,” said a regional South China Sea expert who is not authorized to speak to the media and therefore declined to be identified.

“As the formalization of names is also related to Vietnam’s claims over some South China Sea features, I expect the Vietnamese government to react in the near future. This is an escalation of tension on China’s part,” the expert added.

Separately, Jay Batongbacal, a maritime expert from the University of the Philippines College of Law, said that China was “naturally opposed” to the Philippines’ official actions that implement the 2016 South China Sea Arbitration Award.

“China’s reaction and statements are not unexpected, given their increasingly aggressive posture and belligerence toward the Philippines in the past decade,” Batongbacal told RFA.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said China urged the Philippines to “immediately end any unilateral move that may escalate the dispute and complicate the situation.”

“China reserves the right of taking all measures necessary,” Mao added, while commenting on Manila’s Maritime Zones Act,

Batongbacal referred to a June clash between a Philippine resupply mission to an outpost in the Second Thomas Shoal and Chinese vessels as he warned of the possibility of China escalating risks in disputed waters.

He noted “the array of military and paramilitary forces that China has been employing against the Philippines.”

“[A]ny further escalation that increases the risk of armed conflict can only come from China,” Batongbacal said.