‘Dubious pretexts’: US slams Chinese actions in South China Sea
The State Department said China is using a unilateral reserve and environmental pretexts to strengthen maritime claims and restrict Filipino fishermen.
- On Saturday, the United States accused China of "destabilising" activity near Scarborough Shoal, with State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott dismissing the "national nature reserve" as "dubious" environmental pretext to deny Filipino fishermen access.
- China issued new management rules on August 1 regulating the "national nature reserve" it established in September 2025, coordinating four agencies including the China Coast Guard to enforce control over the disputed area.
- Situated 240km from Luzon, Scarborough Shoal anchors a strategic trade corridor worth more than $3 trillion annually; both China and the Philippines claim the reef as sovereign territory, deepening the dispute.
- The 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award dismissed China's "nine-dash line" as unlawful under international maritime law, though Beijing rejects the ruling; the United States reaffirms it "stands with our Ally, the Philippines, in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific."
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the use of water cannons against Filipino vessels, citing China's increasingly assertive maneuvers as tensions flare in recent weeks across the South China Sea.
28 Articles
28 Articles
US: China’s ‘national nature reserve’ in Panatag destabilizing
The United States on Saturday accused China of “destabilizing” activity near Panatag or Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippine Sea, saying it is using “dubious” environmental explanations to advance its territorial claims.
US Rejects China’s ‘Destabilizing’ Nature Reserve Claims in South China Sea
The United States has condemned the Chinese regime’s continued efforts to establish a nature reserve at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, a move that further blocks Filipino fishermen’s access to one of their traditional fishing grounds. Chinese authorities earlier this month unveiled new rules to manage the “national nature reserve” at Scarborough Shoal, a triangle-shaped coral reef within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile economic zon…
U.S. State Department Opposes China’s Coercive Territorial Claims and Will Stand with Ally Philippines. Amid escalating tensions with the Philippines over the region as the Chinese military establishes regulations for constant coast guard patrols near Scarborough Shoal and conducts joint naval and air force exercises, the State Department stated on the 8th that [China] is causing instability at Scarborough Shoal.
The United States on Saturday accused China of destabilizing activities near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.
(Washington = Yonhap News) Correspondent Baek Na-ri = The U.S. State Department stated that China is causing instability and coercive... at Scarborough Shoal (Chinese name Huangyan Island, Philippine name Bajo de Masinloc).
The United States on Saturday (August 8) criticized China’s so-called “national nature reserve” near Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island) in the disputed South China Sea as “destabilizing” and said it was yet another unilateral attempt by China to “use dubious environmental and legal pretexts” to advance its territorial expansion in the South China Sea.
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