scarborough shoal

Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc ("under Masinloc" in Spanish), Panatag Shoal (Filipino: Kulumpol ng Panatag, lit. 'serene cluster'), Huangyan Island (Mandarin Chinese: 黄岩岛; pinyin: Huáng Yán Dǎo; lit. 'yellow rock island'), and Democracy Reef, are two rocks in an atoll administered by China in the South China Sea. It is located between Macclesfield Bank to the west and Luzon, its nearest landmass (220 kilometres (119 nmi) away), to the east.The atoll is a disputed territory claimed by the Republic of the Philippines through the 1734 Velarde map, while the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) claim it through the disputed nine-dash line (originally an eleven-dash line which included waters in the Gulf of Tonkin). The atolls status is often discussed in conjunction with other territorial disputes in the South China Sea such as those involving the Spratly Islands, and the 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff. It was administered by the Philippines as part of its Zambales province, until 2012, when a standoff was initiated by China through the use of warships against fishing boats, resulting in effective capture by the Chinese maritime forces.In 2013, the Philippines solely filed an international case against China in the arbitration court in The Hague, Netherlands. In 2016, the court declared that China's so-called nine-dash line claim in the entire South China Sea was invalid, while upholding the sovereign rights of the Philippines in the area. China rejected the court's decision, sending more warships in Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands, while a multitude of nations backed the Tribunal's ruling including the claimants to the area such as Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.The atoll was named by Captain Philip D'Auvergne, whose East India Company East Indiaman Scarborough grounded on one of the rocks on 12 September 1784, before sailing on to China, although it already had a Spanish name recorded in the 1734 Velarde map of Spanish Philippines.

You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.