CNN –
Vibrant reefs teeming with colorful fish and seaweed were turned into a wasteland of crushed coral in the South China Sea just two years ago, and the Philippines says it has identified a culprit – China’s shadowy maritime militia.
China has denied the accusation, sparking another public disagreement with its neighbor over the waterway’s flashpoint.
Videos released by the Philippine Coast Guard on Monday showed a huge piece of bleached coral along Rozul Reef (Iroquios) and Sabina Reef (Escoda) in the South China Sea, which are underwater features within the internationally recognized Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). country acts.
Both reefs lie near Palawan, the Philippines’ southwestern island chain off the South China Sea, but Beijing claims most of the large and strategic waterway as its own territory, despite competing claims from its neighbors and in defiance of an international settlement.
Commodore Jay Tarriela, the Coast Guard spokesman, said divers conducted “underwater surveys” of the seabed and described “visible discolorations” that indicated “deliberate activities” aimed at altering the natural topography of the site.
“The continued enthusiasm for the Chinese maritime militia’s indiscriminate illegal and destructive fishing activities in Rozul Reef and Escoda Reef may have directly led to the degradation and destruction of the U.S. marine environment [West Philippine Sea] characteristics,” Tarriela said in a statement, referring to Manila’s name for parts of the South China Sea under its jurisdiction.
Philippine Coast Guard/Facebook
According to the Philippine Coast Guard, bleached coral fragments have accumulated around Rozul Reef (Iroquios).
Tarriela said the Coast Guard monitored 33 Chinese vessels near Rozul Reef and about 15 Chinese vessels near Escoda Reef between August 9 and September 11.
“The presence of crushed corals strongly suggests possible deposition, potentially involving the same dead corals that were previously processed and cleaned before being returned to the seabed,” Tarriela added.
The Philippine military also accused the Chinese maritime militia of massive destruction in the region last Saturday.
Chinese authorities did not comment publicly on the allegations until Thursday, when the Foreign Ministry was questioned about the destruction of the coral at a regular daily briefing.
“The relevant allegations made by the Philippine side are false and baseless,” spokesman Mao Ning told reporters. “We advise the Philippine authorities not to use fake information to stage a political farce.”
Beijing claims “indisputable sovereignty” over almost all of the 1.3 million square miles of the South China Sea and most of the islands and sandbars within it, including many areas hundreds of kilometers from mainland China. These include the Spratlys, an archipelago consisting of 100 small islands and reefs, also claimed in whole or in part by the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
Over the past two decades, China has occupied a number of reefs and atolls in the South China Sea and built military facilities, including airstrips and ports, that have not only challenged the Philippines’ sovereignty and fishing rights but also endangered marine biodiversity highly contested, resource-rich waterway.
On some atolls and islands where construction took place, sustainable land reclamation occurred, often first destroying reefs and then building on them.
DigitalGlobe/ScapeWare3d/Maxar/Getty Images
China reclaimed land on Fiery Cross Reef in the western part of the Spratly Islands group and built an airstrip, which was completed in 2018.
In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a landmark maritime dispute, concluding that China had no legal basis to claim historic rights to most of the South China Sea.
But Beijing ignores the decision and continues to expand its presence on the waterway.
The Philippine Coast Guard’s recent footage of broken and bleached coral is in stark contrast to footage from two years ago.
The University of the Philippines Institute of Marine Sciences said in a statement to CNN that it surveyed part of Rozul Reef (Iroquios) in 2021 as part of an expedition aboard the M/Y Panata funded by the country’s National Security Council.
Videos and photos taken by the institute in 2021 showed Rozul Reef (Iroquios) dotted with red and purple corals and aquatic algae and moss lining the reef.
“At that time, we determined that there was a reef ecosystem with corals, benthic animals, fish, algae and other marine organisms in the surveyed area,” it said, but did not comment on the current status of the reef since the latest information from the Philippine The army and the coast guard were “outside the area of responsibility” of the institute.
“Nevertheless, we remain open to collaborating with other agencies to validate and analyze the impact of recent activities in the region. “Situations like this underscore the need for continued monitoring and support of further marine scientific research activities by Filipino scientists, particularly in the West Philippine Sea,” it added.
UP Institute of Marine Sciences
The UP Marine Science Institute found live corals in Rozul Reef (Iroquios) in the South China Sea in May 2021.
Signs of marine destruction highlighted the danger of coral fishing in the area, prompting several Philippine senators to raise doubts about whether China has plans to militarize the atolls through land reclamation, CNN affiliate CNN Philippines reported.
“It’s a wake-up call,” said Gerry Arances, executive director of the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED).
The images highlighted the maritime impact of China’s construction of island facilities in the waters, frequent patrols by militia ships and extensive commercial fishing, Arances said.
“It highlights many weaknesses in terms of monitoring, regulation and overall protection of marine biodiversity,” he said.
Western maritime security experts as well as officials from the Philippines and the United States are increasingly accusing Beijing of using supposedly civilian fishing vessels as a maritime militia, acting as an unofficial – and officially deniable – force through which China enforces its territorial claims in the South China Sea and beyond.
Chinese fishing vessels, dubbed Beijing’s “little blue men,” have also been involved in clashes with fishing vessels from Indonesia and Vietnam in contested waters.
Last month, the Philippines announced that a clash between Chinese coast guard and Philippine vessels involved at least two blue-hulled vessels that looked like fishing vessels.
“There has been a collective failure at the international level to respond to China’s actions in the South China Sea in terms of the militarization of the reefs and shoals where China has over time converted pristine marine areas into concrete military bases,” and the collective response of many environmental groups “silenced,” said Ray Powell, director of SeaLight at the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University.
The Philippines’ growing demands for transparency about China’s maneuvers in the disputed waters have allowed the country to gain international support from its allies to assert its territorial sovereignty, Powell added.
At least two foreign ambassadors in Manila have expressed concern over reports of destruction of marine resources in the South China Sea.
U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson called reports of coral destruction around the reefs “disturbing,” according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Habitat damage damages ecosystems and negatively impacts lives and livelihoods. We work with our #FriendsPartnersAllies to protect [the Philippines’] natural resources,” she said Monday.
Japanese Ambassador Kazuhiko Koshikawa also described the development as “very alarming news” and called on everyone to protect “these vital ecosystems”.
The Philippine Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the country had “continuously sounded the alarm.” “Environmentally harmful activities carried out by foreign vessels” in its maritime areas.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte had sought to forge closer ties with Beijing and planned to cooperate on oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea, a move that left Filipinos divided over the legitimacy of enabling China’s ambitions in the disputed area.
Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images
The grounded Philippine Navy ship Sierra Madre, used by Manila to assert its territorial claims at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea, pictured April 23, 2023.
According to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, the Philippines occupies nine parts of the Spratly chain, while China occupies seven parts. But Beijing, which calls the island chain the Nansha Islands, has expanded and fortified many of its claims in the chain, including establishing military bases in places such as Subi Reef, Johnson Reef, Mischief Reef and Fiery Cross Reef.
In contrast, only one of the areas controlled by the Philippines even has an airstrip, Thitu Reef.
In 1999, the Philippines intentionally grounded a Navy transport ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, manned by Filipino Marines on Second Thomas Shoal to assert the country’s claim to the area.
At Thursday’s press conference, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman also referred to the Sierra Madre.
“If the Philippine side is really concerned about the ecological environment of the South China Sea, it should tow the warships illegally staying on the Ren’ai Reef as soon as possible and stop discharging wastewater into the sea, and also to “to prevent irreversible damage to the sea caused by the warships that continue to rust,” she said, using the Chinese name for the reef.
Under current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the country’s national security team began releasing its intelligence on what was actually happening in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea more regularly, Powell said.
“The Philippine government’s transparency policy has really earned it a lot of domestic support to take action against this and international support for its position,” he said.