China has marked out its territorial claim to the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea after the Philippines passed legislation outlining its rival claim.
- China has published a set of geographic coordinates for 16 baselines around Scarborough Shoal, which it calls Huangyan island, the first time it has done so for parts of the sea claimed by Philippines.
- China said its announcement is in accordance with international law, such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), and country’s domestic law.
- Unclos defines a baseline as the starting line along the coast used by a state to measure the breadth of its territorial sea and other maritime zones.
- A nation’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone are typically defined as the distance from the baselines.
- Both China and the Philippines claim Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. China seized the shoal, which lies west of the main Philippine island of Luzon, in 2012 and has since restricted access to Filipino fishermen there.
- A 2016 ruling by an international arbitration court found that most Chinese claims in the South China Sea were invalid but Beijing refuses to abide by it.
