copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-01-23): The fishermen, led by Saligan, reported to the Philippine coast guard that Chinese coast guard personnel drove them away from the disputed Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines and ordered them to dump their catch of fish and seashells. [...] Chinese officials did not immediately comment on Saligan’s statements. In past disputes over the Scarborough Shoal, Beijing has asserted China’s sovereignty and the right to defend the fishing atoll from encroachments. [...] China took control of the Scarborough Shoal in 2012 after a standoff between Chinese and Philippine ships, prompting Manila to bring the dispute to international arbitration. A United Nations-backed tribunal ruled in 2016 that China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea on historical grounds were invalid and that Beijing had violated the right of Filipinos to fish in the shoal.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-08): The incident was the two countries’ latest run-in regarding the Scarborough shoal, a fishing ground within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone that China claims as its territory. [...] Two Philippine ships "invaded the waters" near Scarborough Shoal, it added, prompting what the Chinese side called "control measures". [...] The Scarborough Shoal, named for a British ship grounded on the atoll nearly three centuries ago, is one of Asia’s most contested maritime features and a flashpoint for diplomatic flare-ups over sovereignty and fishing rights.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-10-31): China claims sovereignty over 80 percent of the South China Sea, pitting it against the territorial claims of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Taiwan, and the Philippines. The sea's Scarborough Shoal, known in the Philippines as Bajo de Masinloc, has effectively been under Chinese control since 2012 and is at the heart of much of the recent escalation between Beijing and Manila. The Southern Theater Command of China's military issued a statement Monday saying a Philippine ship trespassing near Scarborough Shoal had "seriously violated China's sovereignty and international law and basic norms governing international relations." The statement warned the Philippines that such actions were "highly likely to cause misunderstanding and miscalculation." [...] China moved in on Scarborough Shoal in 2012 after its maritime forces intervened to prevent Philippine law enforcement from arresting Chinese fishermen who were fishing illegally. After a weeks-long standoff both sides agreed to leave the area. The Philippines' forces honored the agreement, but China's did not, and they have maintained a presence there ever since.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-06-16): The Scarborough Shoal, a triangular coral reef formation which surrounds a lagoon, is famed for its rich waters and marine resources. It is located 124 nautical miles off Masinloc, Zambales, and is considered within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone, based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). [...] China, which does not recognize the ruling, also claims sovereignty over the Scarborough Shoal, which it calls "Huangyan Dao" and treats it as part of the Zhongsha Islands. [...] "The official maps of the Philippine territory during the Spanish regime, starting from 1734, 1808, until 1875, that’s just a few years before the Paris Treaty of 1898, all show that Scarborough Shoal is part of Philippine territory," Carpio said.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-07-07): South China Sea: The battle for Scarborough Shoal Five years ago this month, the Philippines won a landmark legal victory over China, concerning territorial incursions in the disputed South China Sea. A tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that Beijing had been unlawful in its occupation and blockade of traditional Filipino fishing grounds, including Scarborough Shoal.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-05-26): It was 2013 and he was fishing at Panatag – or Scarborough Shoal – a triangular-shaped coral reef about 120 nautical miles from his home at Masinloc, a few hours north-west of Manila. [...] China has long claimed sovereignty over Scarborough and other shoals, reefs and barren islands in the West Philippine Sea. It sits inside the Philippines' exclusive economic zone but is also part of the broader South China Sea. [...] China this month reiterated its claim to Scarborough Shoal in a statement retaliating to an online attack by the Philippines' Foreign Secretary, Teodoro Locsin. It also denied there were armed militia on any of its vessels.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-02-13): Scarborough Shoal is a rock in the South China Sea, approximately 120 nautical miles west of the Philippine island of Luzon. There are no structures built on Scarborough Shoal, but the feature is effectively controlled by China, which has maintained a constant coast guard presence at the feature since 2012. U.S. Board of Geographic Names: Scarborough Shoal [...] A Chinese coast guard vessel in pursuit of a Philippine fishing boat. November 18, 2015
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-09-24): Overview [edit]The Scarborough Shoal is claimed by both the Philippines and China. On April 8, 2012, a Philippine Navy surveillance plane spotted eight Chinese fishing vessels anchored in the waters of the shoal. BRP Gregorio del Pilar was sent on the same day by the Philippine Navy to survey the vicinity of the shoal, and confirmed the presence of the fishing vessels and their ongoing activities. On April 10, 2012, BRP Gregorio del Pilar came to inspect the catch of the fishing vessels. The Filipino inspection team claimed that they discovered illegally collected corals, giant clams, and live sharks inside the first vessel boarded by the team. BRP Gregorio del Pilar reported that they attempted to arrest the Chinese fishermen but were blocked by Chinese maritime surveillance ships, China Marine Surveillance 75 (Zhongguo Haijian 75) and China Marine Surveillance 84 (Zhongguo Haijian 84). Since then, tensions have continued between the two countries.[1][2][3] [...] Hong Kong protests [edit]Hong Kong activists organized a protest on May 11, to reiterate China's claim over the Scarborough shoal near the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong. The protesters sent an open letter to the authorities claiming that the Scarborough shoal has been a Chinese territory since 1279 during the Yuan Dynasty. They also accuse the Philippines of inciting anti-China demonstrations among Filipinos and disrupting Chinese fishermen in the shoal.[16]
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2012-06-22): The dispute between China and the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal consists of two legal parts, each affecting a distinct geographical area. [...] China claims that in 1935, China’s Map Verification Committee declared sovereignty over 132 islands, reef and shoals in the South China Sea, when Scarborough Shoal was listed as a part of what China today calls Zhongsha Islands. Chinese authors argue that, since China considers Scarborough Shoal to be a part of Zhongsha, when China declared sovereignty over Zhongsha in 1951 this declaration implicitly included Scarborough Shoal. [...] 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: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-07-06): In the Spratly Island chain, China occupies and has undertaken large-scale land reclamation activities on seven geographic features over which the Philippines also claims sovereignty. Since a stand-off with the Philippines in 2012, China has also controlled Scarborough Shoal. Because different categories of features generate different levels of maritime rights under UNCLOS, the Philippines' case seeks a ruling from the tribunal on the physical status of each of those China-occupied features. The Philippines also seeks a ruling on the physical status of Second Thomas Shoal, a geographic feature located 105 nautical miles west of the Philippine island of Palawan that is claimed by both the Philippines and China. The Philippines beached a landing craft, the BRP Sierra Madre, on the shoal in 1999. With the condition of the BRP Sierra Madre deteriorating and China harassing Philippine navy ships seeking to resupply the military personnel stationed on it, many analysts consider the Philippines' control of Second Thomas Shoal to be tenuous.18
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-10-24): In 2012, Beijing took control of Scarborough Shoal within the Philippines’ EEZ after a months-long standoff involving paramilitary ships. [...] After the confrontation at Scarborough Shoal, the Philippines began arbitral proceedings against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. [...] After the latest clash over the Scarborough Shoal buoys, there was no sign of contrition in Beijing.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-10-27): "China is on the verge of willfully triggering a humanitarian crisis by blocking the resupply of the BRP Sierra Madre. Its actions will eventually starve Filipino sailors on the vessel. China’s main purpose, of course, is to force the Philippines to abandon Second Thomas Shoal and take de facto control of this territorial feature," the senators wrote. "Doing so would expand further its unlawful maritime claims – just as Beijing did with Scarborough Shoal over a decade ago. Each new claim of maritime sovereignty gives China another platform to hold allied territory (and U.S. military assets) at greater risk." [...] We write to express our grave concern regarding the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) hostile and unlawful actions in the South China Sea, particularly against the Philippines, and to request your administration move quickly to support the Philippines in countering China’s aggressive behavior. [...] China is on the verge of willfully triggering a humanitarian crisis by blocking the resupply of the BRP Sierra Madre. Its actions will eventually starve Filipino sailors on the vessel. China’s main purpose, of course, is to force the Philippines to abandon Second Thomas Shoal and take de facto control of this territorial feature. Doing so would expand further its unlawful maritime claims – just as Beijing did with Scarborough Shoal over a decade ago. Each new claim of maritime sovereignty gives China another platform to hold allied territory (and U.S. military assets) at greater risk.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-08-15): The Spratlys are a group of geographic features including reefs, shoals and rocks located near the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia — and several hundred miles from China’s shores. The area is claimed by the PRC, Taiwan (as the Republic of China), Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. [...] 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. [...] As important, it will signal to Beijing that American willingness to confront Chinese salami-slicing tactics against its neighbors remains hollow. It is worth recalling that in 2012, the United States chose to persuade the Philippines to withdraw from Scarborough Shoal (a separate set of features north of the Spratlys) while making no effort to compel the PRC to do the same. In effect, Washington forced Manila to cede that set of features to the PRC.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-11-06): Amb. Fu Ying on Huangyan Dao/Scarborough Shoal & why it's Chinese territory [...] The Philippine government did not treat Huangyan Dao as part of its territory either. For example, in a letter to a German radio amateur in February 1992, the then Philippine Ambassador to Germany stated clearly that the Scarborough Shoal or Huangyan Dao does not fall within the territorial sovereignty of the Philippines.[11] Even as recently as October 18, 1994, the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority of the Philippines (NAMRIA) confirmed that the territorial boundaries and sovereignty of the Republic of the Philippines were established in Article III of the Treaty of Paris, signed on December 10, 1898. Scarborough (Huangyan Dao) clearly lies outside of those limits.[12] In 1999, I was serving as the Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines. One day, I was invited to speak to the International Press Club in Manila in the wake of a fishery dispute near Huangyan Dao. On my way to the club, I stopped at a newspaper stand and bought a map published by the NAMRIA. During the interview with Philippine and foreign journalists, I reviewed the map with them, and it was agreed by all that Huangyan Dao does indeed fall outside of Philippine territory.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2013-12-04): Chinese archaeologists haven't started excavating sites at the Scarborough Shoal, but they have begun work on Chinese wrecks around the Paracel Islands, which lie about 200 miles from the coasts of China and Vietnam and are claimed by both countries. China has controlled the islands since 1974, when it defeated Vietnam in a brief naval battle. [...] A Philippines coast guard ship was sent to the area but kept its distance. A tense standoff ensued as Chinese and Filipino officials accused one another of violating territorial boundaries. [...] The Scarborough Shoal incident, by contrast, marked the first time a country in the region used force to stop another nation's underwater archaeological project, experts say.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-12-07): On July 12, 2016, the arbitral tribunal adjudicating the Philippines’ case against China in the South China Sea ruled overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippines, determining that major elements of China’s claim—including its nine-dash line, recent land reclamation activities, and other activities in Philippine waters—were unlawful. Predictably, China reacted negatively to the ruling, maintaining it was "null and void." China may take assertive and inflammatory steps to defend its position. The extent to which China abides by the ruling in the long term, and to which the international community supports and seeks to enforce the ruling, will have consequences for the utility of international law as a tool to ensure the peaceful, stable, and lawful use of the seas going forward.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-03-14): In a next step, the tribunal determined the legal status of certain maritime features occupied by China in the South China Sea. Determining whether these are "islands", "rocks", "low-tide elevations" (LTEs) or "submerged banks" is important because, unlike fully entitled islands, rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own do not generate an EEZ and a CS. Consequently, rocks do not give rights to resource exploitation beyond their territorial sea. Furthermore, LTEs or submerged banks do not generate any maritime zone. The tribunal found most disputed maritime features not to be capable of generating an EEZ or CS: it classified Scarborough Shoal as a rock, and among those features in the Spratly Islands, it found Mischief Reef, Subi Reef and Second Thomas Shoal to be LTEs, and Johnson Reef, Cuarteron Reef and Fiery Cross Reef to be mere rocks. However, contrary to the Philippines’ position, the tribunal concluded that Gaven Reef (North) and McKennan Reef are rocks that are not capable of generating an EEZ or a CS. [...] Scarborough Shoal is a disputed territory claimed by China, Taiwan and the Philippines. Since the 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff, access to the shoal has been restricted by China. Scarborough Shoal forms a triangle-shaped chain of reefs and rocks with a perimeter of 46 km. It covers an area, including an inner lagoon, of 150 km2. The shoal’s highest point, South Rock, measures 1.8 m above water during high tide.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-06-01): See ibid., para.22. It is also noted that seven of the maritime features, excluding the eighth maritime feature, the Scarborough Shoal, which the Philippines considers as rocks, reefs, low tide elevations or submerged features, are well within 200 miles from the Taiping Dao (Ita Abu Island). Measured from the Yongxing Dao (the Woody Island), the Huangyan Dao (Scarborough Shoal) is situated at a distance of 301 miles but within the extended continental shelf of China. The situation of these features is the same even when they are measured from Zhongye Dao (Thitu Island), according to China illegally occupied by the Philippines; except that the Huangyan Dao (the Scarborough Shoal) is at a distance of 315 miles. See Sienho Yee, above n.13, 698-699.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-08-15): The Philippines claims the northeastern section of the Spratly Islands as the Kalayaan Island Group, in addition to the Scarborough Shoal, which it calls the Bajo de Masinloc. Malaysia claims part of the Kalayaan Island, while China and Taiwan claim the entirety of the island group. China and Taiwan also claim the Scarborough Shoal, which is currently patrolled by Chinese maritime law enforcement vessels. In addition, the body of water enclosed within the nine-dash line promulgated by China and Taiwan overlaps with the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf. [...] The Philippines claims that title to Scarborough Shoal passed from Spain to the United States in 1898 along with all other Spanish maritime features surrounding the Philippines archipelago. Following independence from the United States, the Philippines inherited title to the Scarborough Shoal. [...] – Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, 2011 "Since the adjacent waters of the relevant geological features are definite and subject to legal and technical measurement, the claim by the People’s Republic of China on the ‘relevant waters as well as the seabed and subsoil thereof’ (as reflected in the so-called 9-dash line map attached)…outside of the aforementioned relevant geological features in the KIG [Kalayaan Island Group] and their ‘adjacent waters’ would have no basis under international law, specifically UNCLOS."
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-12-01): The PRC cannot lawfully assert a maritime claim â including any Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) claims derived from Scarborough Reef and the Spratly Islands â vis-a-vis the Philippines in areas that the Tribunal found to be in the Philippinesâ EEZ or on its continental shelf. Beijingâs harassment of Philippine fisheries and offshore energy development within those areas is unlawful, as are any unilateral PRC actions to exploit those resources. In line with the Tribunalâs legally binding decision, the PRC has no lawful territorial or maritime claim to Mischief Reef or Second Thomas Shoal, both of which fall fully under the Philippinesâ sovereign rights and jurisdiction, nor does Beijing have any territorial or maritime claims generated from these features. [...] The PRC has no lawful territorial or maritime claim to (or derived from) James Shoal, an entirely submerged feature only 50 nautical miles from Malaysia and some 1,000 nautical miles from Chinaâs coast. James Shoal is often cited in PRC propaganda as the âsouthernmost territory of China.â International law is clear: An underwater feature likeÂ James Shoal cannot be claimed by any state and is incapable of generating maritime zones. James Shoal (roughly 20 meters below the surface) is not and never was PRC territory, nor can Beijing assert any lawful maritime rights from it.
Claim: Scarborough Shoal is a territory of People's Republic of China (Scarborough Shoal, 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] [...] China published a map including Scarborough Shoal as its territory in April 1935.[27]: 15