Taipei: Taiwan on Thursday issued a forceful rebuke to Beijing’s decision to classify Scarborough Shoal as a national nature reserve, calling the move an unlawful attempt to consolidate control over contested waters of the South China Sea.
The designation, approved earlier this week by China’s State Council, would give the atoll formal protection status under Chinese law. Beijing has framed the decision as an environmental measure to safeguard biodiversity and stabilize the area’s fragile ecosystem.
Taipei dismissed that explanation outright. In a sharply worded statement, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) asserted that “all islands and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea are the sovereign territory of the Republic of China,” adding that its legal claim under international law and the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea “remains undeniable.”
“The Chinese government has no right to unilaterally and illegally claim this area,” MOFA said, characterizing Beijing’s move as a “hegemonic display” that could heighten tensions and imperil peace across the Indo-Pacific.
Scarborough Shoal — located roughly 220 kilometers west of the Philippines’ Luzon island — has long been a flashpoint among China, Taiwan and the Philippines. Known as Democracy Reef in Taiwan, Huangyan Island in China and Panatag Shoal in the Philippines, the atoll sits astride one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
The Philippines has also protested Beijing’s action, accusing China of violating its territorial rights. Analysts say the reserve designation, while framed as environmental stewardship, could deepen existing friction in a strategic waterway contested by multiple nations.
Taiwan emphasized that its sovereignty claims “remain unchanged” despite China’s declaration and reiterated its willingness to work with regional neighbors, including Manila, to resolve disputes through dialogue and adherence to international law.
China’s State Council, by contrast, described the new designation as “an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the atoll’s natural ecosystem.”
With Scarborough Shoal once again at the center of regional tensions, observers warn that Beijing’s latest move risks aggravating an already volatile maritime dispute that pits overlapping claims of sovereignty against the imperatives of ecology and international navigation.
