Symbolic imageUS calls China's Scarborough Shoal reserve a bid to seize fishing waters
The US State Department has accused China of using a declared 'national nature reserve' at Scarborough Shoal to keep Filipino fishermen from their traditional fishing ground. It said on Saturday it rejects Beijing's attempts to enforce it.
In a statement on Saturday, 8 August, spokesperson Tommy Pigott said China was using 'dubious environmental and legal pretexts, backed by coercion' to advance its sweeping claims, and called the enforcement destabilising for the wider Indo-Pacific. Washington said it stands with its ally the Philippines. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had condemned China's water cannon use against Philippine vessels at the ASEAN meeting in Manila in July, saying the US would not abandon its allies.
Fishing ban and water cannon
China published new management rules for the area last week, barring fishing and mining without prior approval, Politika reported. They followed July encounters: the Philippine Coast Guard said on 24 July that Chinese ships fired water cannon at its vessels at the shoal.
A claim rejected in The Hague
China has held effective control of the reef, less than 241 kilometres from the Philippine coast, since a 2012 standoff; Manila still claims it. The Permanent Court of Arbitration largely dismissed Beijing's 'nine-dash line' as unlawful, but China refused to take part.
Other opinions
Al Jazeera sets the rebuke against Washington's own interests, noting the US regularly weighs in for its Asian allies. No Chinese outlet is among the sources.