China has built a hundreds of meters long floating barrier near the disputed Scarborough Reef. It prevents Filipino fishermen from navigating the area – which is in the island nation’s economic zone.
China has set up a “floating barrier” in a disputed region in the South China Sea, according to Philippine authorities. The 300-meter-long chain of buoys about 230 kilometers west of the Philippines’ northwest coast is preventing fishermen from navigating the area, which is within the Philippines’ economic zone, authorities said.
The barrier was discovered during a routine patrol in the southeastern part of Scarborough Reef, also known as Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines. “The Philippine Coast Guard and the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources strongly condemn the installation of a floating barrier by the Chinese Coast Guard in the southeastern part of Bajo de Masinloc,” a Coast Guard spokesperson wrote on Platform X, formerly Twitter. The barrier endangers the livelihoods of fishermen and the boats’ propellers could get caught in it, it was said.
China claims islands for itself
Both China and the Philippines lay claim to Scarborough Reef, a largely submerged atoll. It was the focus of a military incident between the two countries in 2012, after which Beijing quickly occupied the reef. Although a court ruled in 2016 that China’s historic rights to the area were no longer valid, Beijing does not recognize the ruling.