Political Science

SCARBOROUGH

South China Sea

* Scarborough Shoal, a group of islands disputed by the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China and Philippines.

* Scarborough Shoal or Scarborough Reef, also known as Huangyan Island

* (simplified Chinese: 黄岩岛; traditional Chinese: 黃岩島; pinyin: Huángyán Dǎo), Bajo de Masinloc or Panatag Shoal (Filipino: Kulumpol ng Panatag), is a shoal located between the Macclesfield Bank and Luzon Island of the Philippines in the South China Sea.

* It is a disputed territory claimed by the People's Republic of China, Republic of China (Taiwan), and the Philippines. The shoal's status is often discussed in conjunction with other territorial disputes in the South China Sea such as those involving the Spratly Islands or the Paracel Islands. Since the 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff, access to the territory has been restricted by the People's Republic of China.

* The shoal was named after the East India Company tea-trade ship Scarborough which was wrecked on one of its rocks on 12 September 1784 with all lives lost.

* The Philippines states that its assertion of sovereignty over the shoal is based on the juridical criteria established by public international law on the lawful methods for the acquisition of sovereignty. Among the criteria (effective occupation, cession, prescription, conquest, and accretion), the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has asserted that the country exercised both effective occupation and effective jurisdiction over Bajo de Masinloc since its independence. Thus, it claims to have erected flags in some islands and a lighthouse which it reported to the International Maritime Organization. It also asserts that the Philippine and US Naval Forces have used it as impact range and that its Department of Environment and Natural Resources has conducted scientific, topographic and marine studies in the shoal, while Filipino fishermen regularly use it as fishing ground and have always...