The Philippines has demanded that China open Scarborough Shoal to international scrutiny. The Philippines has accused China of destroying a lagoon’s ecosystem.
- The call came from the National Security Council after the Philippine Coast Guard revealed reports of marine destruction within a lagoon inside the Scarborough Shoal.
- China effectively controls part of the shoal after putting up a 380-meter floating barrier in September to prevent Filipino fishermen from entering the lagoon.
- Scarborough Shoal is a flashpoint in the region. It falls within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, but China openly defies the country’s EEZ, even in the wake of the tribunal ruling.
- China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, including the atoll, as it brandishes a map marked with what it now calls the 10-dash line.
