China ‘deposits’ statement regarding disputed Scarborough shoal to UN

[ad_1] China “deposited” a press release concerning “baselines of the territorial sea” adjoining to the disputed Scarborough Shoal within the South China Sea to the U.N., calling it “respectable measures” to defend its territorial sovereignty.

Scarborough Shoal, recognized within the Philippines as Bajo de Masinloc, is a triangular chain of reefs about 125 nautical miles (232 kilometers) from Luzon, the primary Philippine island. Claimed by China, the Philippines and Taiwan, the shoal has been underneath Beijing’s de-facto management since 2012.

China introduced final month the baselines of its territorial sea round Scarborough Shoal to strengthen its declare over the characteristic that lies throughout the Philippines’ unique financial zone.

“Ambassador Geng Shuang, the deputy everlasting consultant of the Individuals’s Republic of China to the United Nations deposited the assertion and related charts of the baselines of the shoal to the U.N. on behalf of the Chinese language authorities,” stated the Everlasting Mission of the Individuals’s Republic of China to the U.N. in a press release on Monday.

By submitting the assertion and charts, Beijing apparently goals to make its declare a fait accompli, in keeping with media studies.

“Huangyan Dao [Scarborough Shoal] is an inherent a part of China’s territory … This can be a regular measure taken by the Chinese language authorities to strengthen maritime administration in accordance with the legislation, and is in keeping with worldwide legislation and apply,” stated the mission, including that the nation was “fulfilling its obligations” underneath the U.N. Conference on the Regulation of the Sea, or UNCLOS.

A baseline underneath the UNCLOS is a line that runs alongside the coast of a rustic or an island, from which the extent of the territorial sea and different maritime zones such because the unique financial zone and prolonged continental shelf are measured.