BEIJING – China is not building an environmental monitoring station on Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, its foreign ministry said yesterday, apparently denying remarks made by a local official last week.
Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said reports about the facility on Scarborough Shoal had been checked and were found to be false.
Hua’s statement came almost simultaneously with Manila’s announcement that it was seeking clarification from Beijing on reports on the planned building of monitoring facilities on the shoal.
“That does not exist at all,” Hua told reporters at a regularly scheduled news briefing.
The official Hainan Daily newspaper had quoted Xiao Jie, the mayor of what China calls Sansha City, as saying the monitoring station is included in the Chinese government’s projects lined up for this year.
Sansha is the name given by China to the municipal government that administers several island groups, including disputed areas like the Spratly Islands.
Such a move would likely renew concerns among Beijing’s neighbors over its assertive territorial claims in the sea.
The uninhabited shoal came under Chinese control in 2012 after a standoff with Philippine Navy personnel who had tried to arrest Chinese poachers in the area.
China’s construction and land reclamation work in the South China Sea have drawn strong criticism from the US and other countries, who accuse Beijing of further militarizing the region and altering geography to bolster its claims.
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