Philippines blames China for loss of giant clams in disputed shoal and urges environmental inquiry
- May 21, 2024
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
No Comments
Philippines blames China for loss of giant clams in disputed shoal and urges environmental inquiry
Sub: IR
Sec: Places in news
Context:
- The Philippines accused Chinese fishermen of causing significant damage to giant clams at the disputed Scarborough Shoal, which is controlled by China’s coast guard.
Scarborough Shoal:
- Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc, Huangyan Island, Minzhu Jiao, and Panatag Shoal, consists of two skerries.
- Located between Macclesfield Bank and Luzon, with Luzon 220 km away, in South China Sea.
- Disputed territory claimed by the Philippines, China, and Taiwan.
- The Philippines claims it through the 1734 Velarde map.
- China and Taiwan claim it through the nine-dash line (eleven-dash line for Taiwan).
- Related to broader South China Sea territorial disputes, including the Spratly Islands.
The previous standoff between the Philippines and China:
- In 2012, a standoff occurred between the Philippines and China over illegal fishing activities.
- The Philippines initiated an international case against China in 2013.
- In 2016, The Hague’s arbitration court ruled China’s nine-dash line claim invalid, affirming the Philippines’ sovereign rights.
- China rejected the ruling and increased its military presence at Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands.
- The Tribunal’s ruling was supported by various nations, including Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
What is the South China Sea dispute?
- Several countries claim various parts of the sea, and these claims often overlap.
- In particular, China’s sweeping claims – which include sovereignty claims over land parcels and their adjacent waters – have angered competing claimants like Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.
- Other countries have staked claims on islands and various zones in the sea, such as the Paracels and the Spratlys.
- Nine-dash line:
- China claims by far the largest portion of territory in an area demarcated by its so-called “nine-dash line”.
- The line comprises nine dashes, which extend hundreds of miles south and east from its most southerly province of Hainan.
About the South China Sea:
- It is an arm of the western Pacific Ocean that borders the Southeast Asian mainland.
- Boundaries: It is bordered by China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and Vietnam.
- It is connected by the Taiwan Strait with the East China Sea and by the Luzon Strait with the Philippine Sea (both marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean).
- The South China Sea and the East China Sea together form the China Sea.
- The two major archipelagos are known as the Paracel Islands, controlled by China, and the Spratly Islands.
- Climate: Weather in the sea is tropical and largely controlled by monsoons.
- It is the second most used sea lane in the world. It is a significant trade route for crude oil from the Persian Gulf and Africa through the Strait of Malacca to Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan.
- Major Ports: Hong Kong, Singapore, and Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan.
What are clams?
- Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs.
- The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds.
- Clams have two shells of equal size connected by two adductor muscles and have a powerful burrowing foot.
- They live in both freshwater and marine environments; in salt water, they prefer to burrow down into the mud and the turbidity of the water required varies with species and location; the greatest diversity of these is in North America.
- Giant clams are the largest living bivalve molluscs.