copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-02-12): China refers to the Macclesfield Bank as part of the Zhongsha Islands and claims it as part of its territory. It's worth noting that the Zhongsha Islands include several other submarine features in the area. The Macclesfield Bank is also included as part of a county-level administrative division. [...] The Macclesfield Bank is an underwater feature located in the South China Sea, which has been a subject of territorial disputes between several countries, including China, Taiwan, and the Philippines. Despite its submerged status, the bank has become a hotbed of conflicts and tensions, with various countries claiming ownership of this obscure underwater terrain. The claims over the Macclesfield Bank have been a source of friction between China and its neighboring countries. While China has maintained its right to claim the entire South China Sea, it has also claimed that the Macclesfield Bank is within its sovereign territory. Taiwan, on the other hand, has asserted its claim over the bank, citing its historical ties to the region. The Philippines, too, has claimed the Macclesfield Bank, despite not being within its EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone).
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-08-15): China is clearly intent upon coercing the Philippines out of its position in the Spratlys, regardless of the Philippines’ formal legal rights and claims. Indeed, it is quite likely that the PCA findings have only strengthened the PRC’s resolve to secure the Spratlys (as well as the separate Scarborough Shoal and Macclesfield Bank territories). At the same time, the PRC is likely trying to signal to the region that American support is both escalatory and counterproductive.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-11-29): In 2012, the Chinese coastguard seized control of the Scarborough Shoal, which is located between the Macclesfield Bank and Luzon Island in the South China Sea. It is a disputed territory claimed by China, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-09-20): Scarborough Shoal, also known as Panacot, Bajo de Masinloc ("Masinloc Shoal" in Spanish),[3][4] Huangyan Island (Mandarin Chinese: 黄岩岛; pinyin: Huáng Yán Dǎo; lit. 'yellow rock island'),[5] Minzhu Jiao (Mandarin Chinese: 民主礁; lit. 'Democracy Reef'), and Panatag Shoal (Filipino: Buhanginan ng Panatag, lit. 'serene sandbank'),[6] are two skerries located between Macclesfield Bank to the west and Luzon to the east. Luzon is 220 kilometres (119 nmi) away and the nearest landmass.[7] The atoll is a disputed territory claimed by the Republic of the Philippines through the Treaty of Washington in 1900 via the 1734 Velarde map, as well as the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan). The atoll's 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. In 2013, the Philippines initiated arbitration against China under UNCLOS. In 2016, the tribunal ruled that China's historic title within the nine-dash line was invalid but did not rule on sovereignty.[8][9]
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-12-22): Among the submerged banks, shoals and reefs, the Macclesfield Bank located east of the Paracel Islands is ?a submerged atoll, 75 miles long in a north- easterly and southeasterly direction. At the edge of the bank is a coral rim about 3 miles wide and from 42 to 60 feet deep. In the dangerous area of the [...] Itu-aba and Searborough Shoal located east of Macclesfield Bank. Here there are also dumping grounds.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-03-09): This system of straight baselines is extensive and applies not only to Taiwan’s main islands but also Pratas Island and the Macclesfied Bank. A comprehensive and critical analysis of this claim is provided by the US Deparment of State. See US Department of State, Taiwan’s Maritime Claims, Limits in the Seas No. 127 (Nov. 15, 2005), available athttp://www.state.gov/documents/organization/57674.pdf (last visited on Sept. 30, 2013).
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-03): - Islands, reefs, banks and shoals in the South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands, Pratas Island, James Shoal and the Vereker Banks, Macclesfield Bank, Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands between the PRC, Taiwan, and Vietnam, and parts of the area also contested by Malaysia and the Philippines.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2012-05-12): The Republic of China considers the shoal to be part of the Zhongsha Islands (中沙群島) or the Macclesfield Bank. The ROC included the Macclesfield Bank in its territory in 1947 and in January 1948, the Ministry of the Interior issued a map of the South China Sea Islands that placed the Dongsha Islands (東沙群島), the Paracels (西沙群島), the Macclesfield Bank and the Spratly Islands (南沙群島) within ROC territory.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2014-05-14): The South China Sea comprises a stretch of roughly 1.4 million square miles in the Pacific Ocean that encompasses an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan, spanning west of the Philippines, north of Indonesia, and east of Vietnam. The South China Sea islands number in the hundreds, although the largest and most contentious territories include the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, Pratas Islands, Macclesfield Bank, and Scarborough Shoal, to which all of the six major Southeast Asian nations lay various claims. The islands are mostly uninhabited and have never had an indigenous population, making the issue of historical sovereignty a thorny one to resolve.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-06-01): The dotted line encloses the main island features of the South China Sea: the Pratas Islands, the Paracel Islands, the Macclesfield Bank, and the Spratly Islands. The dotted line also captures James Shoal which is as far south as 4 degrees north latitude. On its significance, it is noted in an essay that, [...] For the purpose of the case between the Philippines and China, the Award lists some geographic features indicating their names in English, Chinese and the Filipino languages. These are in English: Cuarteron Reef, Fiery Cross Reef, Gaven Reef, Johnson (south) Reef, Macclesfield Bank, McKennan Reef (incl. Hughes Reef), Mischief Reef, Namyit Island, Reed Bank, Scarborough Shoal, Second Thomas Shoal, Sin Cowe Island and Subi Reef. All these are part of Spratly Island group (Nansha Quando, in Chinese or, in part, Kalayaan Islands in Filipino). [...] China first expressed its intentions regarding the South China Sea in the international arena in its 4 September 1958 Declaration on China’s Territorial Sea. Although paragraph 1 clearly indicates that China considered the Pratas Islands, Paracel Islands, Macclesfield Bank, and Spratly Islands to belong to its territories, the declaration provided no legal explanation. Its sole purpose was, it seems, to define the limits of its sovereignty as a pure fact.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2018-11-05): The total area of the South China Sea is 350 square kilometres. The South China Sea contains over 230 small islands, atolls, cays, and shoals, collectively known as the South China Sea islands. These islands are geographically divided into four parts: the Paracel Islands, the Macclesfield Bank, the Pratas Islands and the Spratly Islands. Most of these islands are very small, the largest of which is Pratas, with 12 square kilometres and Itu Aba Island, the largest island of Spratly Islands, is also only 0.4 square kilometres in size.2 [...] Territorial sovereignty claims over the South China Sea islands have been made by six countries, namely, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. In addition, Taiwan (China) also has made claims based upon special political factors, thus creating a six-nation-and-seven-party situation in the area. The Pratas Islands are garrisoned by Taiwan’s (China) armed forces. The Macclesfield Bank is dominated by the practical control of the Philippines. The Paracel Islands are controlled by mainland China. The Spratly Islands are controlled by the following countries respectively, mainland China controls 7 reefs, Taiwan (China) 2, Vietnam 29, Philippines 8, Malaysia 5, with Brunei 2, and Indonesia 1.9 1 Mainland China
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-03-14): The Paracel Islands are a group of islands, reefs, banks and other maritime features. They are controlled (and occupied) by China, and also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam. The archipelago is surrounded by productive fishing grounds and a seabed with potential, but as yet unexplored, oil and gas reserves. [...] Macclesfield Bank is an elongated sunken atoll of underwater reefs and shoals. It lies east of the Paracel Islands, southwest of the Pratas Islands and north of the Spratly Islands. Its length exceeds 130 km southwest-northeast, with a maximal width of more than 70 km. With an ocean area of 6,448 km2 within the outer rim of the reef, although completely submerged without any emergent cays or islets, it is one of the largest atolls of the world. Macclesfield Bank is claimed, in whole or in part, by China and Taiwan.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-04-09): "Macclesfield Bank is one of the largest atolls in the world, with a water surface area of 6,448 square kilometers, about ten times the land area of Metro Manila. Macclesfield Bank lies just outside the Philippines’ EEZ facing the South China Sea in Luzon Island. Macclesfield Bank is named after the HMS Macclesfield, a British warship that ran aground in the area in 1804. [...] "Under UNCLOS, Macclesfield Bank is part of the high seas since it is situated beyond the EEZ of any coastal state. Macclesfield Bank is within the hole of the doughnut in the middle of the South China Sea. UNCLOS prohibits any State from subjecting the high seas to its sovereignty. All States have the right to fish in Macclesfield Bank, which is part of the global commons. Macclesfield Bank, rich in fishery resources, has been a traditional fishing ground of Filipino fishermen, just like the nearby Scarborough Shoal. "
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-05-19): There are five main groups of disputed islands in the South China Sea which are labeled on the map below. The largest (and most contested) are the Spratly Islands, which are a collection of hundreds of islets and reefs extending from near the coast of the Philippines and Borneo Island towards Vietnam. Then come the Paracel Islands which are located to the north between Vietnam and China, and far to their southeast is the completely submerged Macclesfield Bank, and yet further southeast is Scarborough Shoal. To the north, roughly equidistant from Hong Kong and Taiwan are the Pratas Islands. [...] Vietnam claims the Paracel Islands, Macclesfield Bank, and much of the Spratly Island Group.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2012-06-18): On Chinese maps, the label "Zhongsha" only appears over Macclesfield Bank, not Scarborough Shoal. Internationally Scarborough Shoal is regarded as being separate from Macclesfield Bank. It would seem that for China’s declaration of sovereignty over Zhongsha to be taken as also including Scarborough Shoal, the onus was on China to specifically mention that its claim to Zhongsha also included Scarborough Shoal.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-09-08): The Republic of China (ROC) proclaims that the Nansha Islands (Spratly Islands, 南沙群島), Xisha Islands (Paracel Islands, 西沙群島), Zhongsha Islands (Macclesfield Bank, 中沙群島), and Dongsha Islands, as well as their surrounding waters, are an "inherent part of ROC territory and waters." The ROC argues that its rights over these territories are based on history, geography, and international law. Its historical claims in the South China Sea date back to 1947, when Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正) drew a U-shaped, "eleven-dash line" (十一段線) on a map around the territory in the South China Sea that he claimed as encompassing ROC territory. After coming to power in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) changed the "eleven-dash line" to a "nine-dash line" (九段線), though neither concepts are considered legal terminology. Therein lies Taiwan’s dilemma: changing the ROC’s historical claims would indicate—especially to Beijing—that the island democracy was abandoning its historical political identity and moving towards an inherently Taiwanese national identity, or even independence.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2012-07-06): The Philippines on Wednesday protested China’s move placing virtually the entire West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), including the Philippine territory of Macclesfield Bank and its surrounding waters, under the jurisdiction of a newly created city. [...] Macclesfield Bank is a huge underwater group of reefs and shoals located east of the Paracel Islands, southwest of the Pratas Islands and north of the Spratly Islands in the center of the West Philippine Sea. The Philippines claims Macclesfield Bank and administers it through the provincial government of Zambales. It is one of the largest atolls in the world, covering an area of 6,500 square kilometers, and is surrounded by excellent fishing waters.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of Philippines (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-12-23): Paracel Islands, Macclesfield Bank, and/or islands in the Dangerous Ground area, including the Spratly Islands. Great Britain, Japan, and [...] Macclesfield Bank is a submarine feature, about 80 nautical miles long and 25 nautical miles wide, southeast of the Paracels. Water depths range from about 4 to 45 fathoms. [...] --These islands, as well as the entire Spratly Islands and Macclesfield Bank, "have always been China's territory."
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of People's Republic of China (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-09-22): Macclesfield Bank is an elongated sunken atoll of underwater reefs and shoals in the South China Sea. It lies east of the Paracel Islands, southwest of Pratas Island and north of the Spratly Islands. It is about 130 km (81 mi) long from southwest to northeast, and about 70 km (43 mi) wide at its broadest part. [3] With an ocean area of 6,448 km2 (2,490 sq mi) it is one of the largest atolls in the world.[4] The Macclesfield Bank is part of what China calls the Zhongsha Islands, which includes a number of geographically separate submarine features, and also refers to a county-level administrative division. [...] Territorial claims [edit]Macclesfield Bank is claimed, in whole or in part, by China[16] and Taiwan (Republic of China).[17][18] Jose Zaide, a Filipino diplomat of ambassadorial rank, has written that the Philippines does not claim the Macclesfield Bank.[19] Moreover, Macclesfield Bank is not within UNCLOS 200 or Philippines EEZ.[20]
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of People's Republic of China (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2015-11-07): China’s claims in the South China Sea include claims to territorial sovereignty over island groups as well as claims to maritime jurisdiction. As with the claim made by Taiwan, the People’s Republic of China claims sovereignty over the Spratly Islands (Nansha), Paracel Islands (Xisha), and Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha). Vietnam also claims the Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands, while Malaysia, the Philippines, and Brunei claim some of the Spratly Islands. China has controlled part of the Paracels since the 1950s and the entire Paracel Islands archipelago since 1974, and also currently occupies seven reefs in the Spratly Islands. [...] August 1951: In a statement during the Peace Treaty Negotiations in Japan, Premier Zhou Enlai affirms the PRC’s claims to sovereignty over the Paracel Island, Spratly Islands and Macclesfield Bank. [...] February 1992: China issues a Law on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, which affirms China’s claims to sovereignty over the Paracel Island, Spratly Islands and Macclesfield Bank.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of People's Republic of China (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2014-08-26): This narrative about Zengmu Ansha as China’s "southernmost point" is not some new propaganda from the CCP. China’s first official South China Sea map with interrupted lines was published in 1948 (though drawn in 1947 for internal purposes) by the Republic of China’s (ROC) Kuomintang (KMT) government. There are also documents reporting that a map created by cartographer Bai Meichu in 1936 used solid lines to encircle the Paracel Islands, the Macclesfield Bank, and the Spratly Islands. This 1936 map marked Zengmu Ansha in the Spratly Islands as China’s southernmost boundary in the South China Sea. Since the 1940s, generations of Chinese have learned from their geography textbooks that Zengmu Ansha is the southernmost point of China’s territory. Different generations of Chinese have also conducted a similar exercise in their middle school geography classes: the students use a ruler to measure the distance from the northernmost point of China (Mohe, near the Amur River, at the latitude of 53° 29′ north) to Zengmu Ansha (at the latitude of 4° 15′ north) and then feel very proud of their country’s vast territory.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of People's Republic of China (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-04-21): What legal effect, if any, will these projects have on the broader Spratly Islands and South China Sea territorial and maritime disputes? China claims "indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and the adjacent waters and jurisdiction over the relevant waters as well as the seabed and subsoil thereof," consistent with its maps showing nine line segments encircling most of the South China Sea and almost all of the Spratly Islands, the so-called 'nine-dash' line. China's latest lawfare approach involves shifting away from the (universally not recognized) "nine-dash line" claim to a narrower "Four shas (4S)" (Chinese for four sands) claim that more tightly connects the four contested island groups of Pratas Islands, Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands, and Macclesfield Bank. Beijing seemingly now wants to make the legal and diplomatic case that the "Four shas" are China’s historical territorial waters, and part of its extended continental shelf and 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) — despite not offering any new substantive legal arguments or historical evidence to back up the new claim.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of People's Republic of China (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-07-03): After Mao Zedong forced Chiang and his armies to retreat to Taiwan in 1949, the same map published under Chiang was adopted by the PRC. The map, entitled "Map of South China Sea Islands," included the Paracel Islands, the Spratly Islands, the Pratas Islands, the Macclesfield Bank, and the Scarborough Shoal. The PRC eventually submitted their map to the United Nations in May 2009 — greatly alarming the littoral states of the South China Sea.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of People's Republic of China (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-09-29): [1] These islands are also commonly known as the Paracels, Spratlys, Scarborough Shoal and Macclesfield Bank, and the Pratas Islands, respectively. Other claimant states also have their own names for these islands. To avoid misrepresenting China’s perspective, the Chinese names are primarily referred to in this document.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of People's Republic of China (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-03-14): The so-called nine-, ten-, but also eleven-dash lines indicate the area that China considers it has sovereignty over. In 2009, the Chinese government circulated a nine-dash map through a set of notes verbales to the United Nations, taking inspiration from an eleven-dash line map published by the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China in 1947. This map, in turn, was seen to follow a map published by the Republic of China’s Land and Water Maps Inspection Committee in 1935. In these maps, the geographical extent of the area claimed by Beijing includes the islands, banks and shoals as well as the surrounding waters of the Paracels, the Spratlys, Scarborough Shoal and Macclesfield Bank, and the Pratas – known in China as the Xisha, Nansha, Zongsha and Dongsha archipelagos respectively – all the way down to James Shoal – also known as Zengmu Ansha reef – as its southernmost tip, 1,800 miles away from mainland China. [...] Macclesfield Bank is an elongated sunken atoll of underwater reefs and shoals. It lies east of the Paracel Islands, southwest of the Pratas Islands and north of the Spratly Islands. Its length exceeds 130 km southwest-northeast, with a maximal width of more than 70 km. With an ocean area of 6,448 km2 within the outer rim of the reef, although completely submerged without any emergent cays or islets, it is one of the largest atolls of the world. Macclesfield Bank is claimed, in whole or in part, by China and Taiwan.
Claim: Macclesfield Bank is a territory of People's Republic of China (Macclesfield Bank, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-08): - The Zhongsha Islands - Macclesfield Bank (with no land above sea level), disputed between the PRC,[6] the ROC[7] and the Philippines.[8] [...] During the Qing, the names Qianli Changsha and Wanli Shitang were in vogue, and Chinese fishermen from Hainan named specific islands from within the groups, although the Qing officially named 15 large islands in 1909. During China's Republican era (1912-1949), the government named the Spratlys Tuánshā Qúndǎo (团沙群岛) and then Nánshā Qúndǎo (南沙群岛); the Paracels were Xīshā Qúndǎo (西沙群岛); Republican authorities mapped over 291 islands, reefs, and banks in surveys in 1932, 1935, and 1947. The People's Republic of China has retained the Republican-era names for the island groups, supplementing them with a list of 287 names for islands, reefs, banks, and shoals in 1983.[12] From 2011 to 2012, China's State Oceanic Administration named 1,660 nameless islands and islets under its claimed jurisdiction; in 2012, China announced plans to name a further 1,664 nameless features by August 2013. The naming campaign is intended to consolidate China's sovereignty claim over Sansha (三沙),[13] a city which includes islands from the Xisha (Paracel), Nansha (Spratly and James Shoal) and Zhongsha (中沙, Zhōngshā; Macclesfield Bank, Scarborough Shoal, and others) groups. [...] - ^ "Philippines protests China's moving in on Macclesfield Bank". Inquirer.net. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2012.