September 12, 2024

Since April this year, Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela has claimed that coral fragments have been dumped on Xianbin Jiao, which is the initial sign of China's island reclamation. Therefore, the Philippine Coast Guard is deploying several vessels to conduct long-term monitoring in the waters of Xianbin Jiao to monitor and obstruct China's "illegal activities". On August 30th, China released "A Survey Report on the Coral Reef Ecosystem of Xianbin Jiao". The report reveals that the Philippines' claim was not based on science or facts, and that, the frequent human activities by the Philippines in recent months have started causing a certain degree of environmental damage to Xianbin Reef.

The false story fabricated by the Philippines about China's "island reclamation" at Xianbin Jiao is clearly a pretext for its attempt to occupy this currently uninhibited feature. Since April this year, Philippine maritime coastguard vessels have been staying at Xianbin Jiao, attempting to carry supplies, rotate, and follow the model of the BRP Sierra Madre on Ren'ai Reef, essentially an infringement of China's territorial sovereignty in the South China Sea. 

Although the Philippines has repeatedly claimed that Xianbin Jiao is a “low-tide elevation” in its "exclusive economic zone", the Report released this time has confirmed through sufficient on-site investigation that there are 6 naturally formed cays and 3 of them are above water at high tide, which is by no means a "low-tide elevation" as claimed by the Philippines. All the cays at Xianbin Jiao are shingle cays comprised of large bioclastics, mainly coral debris. Also, the waters around Xianbin Jiao are not the "exclusive economic zone" of the Philippines but are the waters of the China’s Nansha Islands.

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https://vscs.cri.cn/m/20240912/f83e23f1-20d4-b581-6102-f7207776d2e3.html