Iroquois Reef is close to the Reed Bank, where the Philippines hopes to one day access gas reserves, a plan complicated by China’s claim to the area.
China, which has refused to recognise the 2016 ruling and has chafed at repeated mentions of the case by Western powers, denied the latest claims of destruction of coral reefs.
“We urge the relevant party of the Philippines to stop creating a political drama from fiction,” its embassy in Manila said late on Thursday, quoting Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning.
Philippines’ coast guard and armed forces earlier this week reported “severe damage inflicted upon the marine environment and coral” at the Iroquois Reef, where it said 33 Chinese vessels had been moored in August and September.
They described the vessels, which are typically fishing trawlers, as “maritime militia” and said those were harvesting the coral. Coral in the South China Sea has been used for limestone and construction materials, traditional medicines and even souvenirs and jewellery.
China has asserted its claims of sovereignty in the Spratlys with a series of manmade islands built upon submerged reefs, some equipped with runways, hangers, radar and missile systems. Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines also occupy islands in the archipelago, where several countries’ EEZs overlap.
Source: CNA
