China to build environmental monitoring station near disputed Scarborough Shoal

China has approved the construction of a marine environmental observation station to monitor an area that includes the disputed Scarborough Shoal, a persistent flashpoint in tensions with the Philippines in the South China Sea.

The Zhongsha Islands Marine Ecological and Environmental Field Observation and Research Station, proposed by the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology (SCSIO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was given the green light on July 31, the SCSIO announced on Tuesday.

The approval reflects the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ commitment to “leveraging science and technology to support the national strategy in the South China Sea”, according to the SCSIO statement.

It said the planned station would “fill a key gap” in marine monitoring in the Zhongsha Islands, supplement the institute’s existing stations in the Paracel and Spratly Islands – known as the Xisha and Nansha Islands in Chinese – and complete China’s ecological observation network across the entire South China Sea.

The Zhongsha Islands, as China calls them, are a group of reefs and atolls in the central South China Sea. The area, partly associated with what is internationally known as Macclesfield Bank, includes Scarborough Shoal, a hotspot contested by Beijing and Manila.

Earlier this month, Beijing issued an administrative regulation on biodiversity and ecological protection near Scarborough Shoal, which is called Huangyan Island in China. Beijing designated the disputed atoll a “national nature reserve” last year.