This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
Rivals in the South China Sea developing artificial islands to back up their claims have destroyed nearly 28.3 square kilometers of coral reefs, a U.S.-based think tank said, with China responsible for the most damage followed by Vietnam.
The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, or AMTI, analyzed island building activities of rival claimants, including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines, using commercial satellite imagery.
Dredging and landfill had caused “irreparable damage” to the marine habitat, as well as long-term changes to the overall structure and health of reefs in the South China Sea, said the group, which is affiliated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
“China has caused the most reef destruction, having buried roughly 4,648 acres (18.8 square km) of reef since 2013,” AMTI said in a report, adding that Vietnam came second with approximately 2,362 acres (9.5 square km) of reef, mostly in 2024.
Government agencies in the two countries were not available for comment during the Lunar New Year holiday.
The total area of damage increased by 800 acres (3.2 square km) from 6,200 acres (25 square km) at the end of 2023. China and Vietnam are responsible for 65% and 33% of reef destruction, respectively, AMTI said.
In a December 2023 report, the group said that besides island building, giant clam harvesting by Chinese fishermen also damaged another 16,353 acres (66.1 square km) of coral reef.
According to AMTI, Manila planned to initiate a second legal challenge against Beijing over environmental destruction in what it calls the West Philippine Sea, or part of the South China Sea within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, where it has jurisdiction over natural resources in the water and the seabed.
The Marcos administration, however, has yet to decide on a venue for the lawsuit.
Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines accounted for less than 3% of the damage, AMTI said.
Pre-emptive counter strike
In 2016, the Philippines won an arbitration case against China under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, but Beijing refused to acknowledge the ruling.
AMTI’s director, Greg Poling, suggested that Manila could file with the U.N. General Assembly a resolution demanding compliance with the 2016 arbitration, and another resolution seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on issues such as whether China’s behavior violates international treaties.
As with the first case, the Philippines would have to rely mostly on its own efforts as the ASEAN grouping’s non-interference principle would prevent other countries in the region from intervening, said Philippine maritime legal expert Jay Batongbacal.
For its part, China seemed to have been “trying to counter the Philippines’ complaints against their environmentally damaging activities since last year,” the expert told Radio Free Asia.
Researcher Dinh Kim Phuc said that despite the environmental damage, Vietnam’s actions “must happen” and are necessary for “strategic defense.”
“We cannot place protection of the marine environment alone,” he told RFA. “We must place it with overall regional security. As long as China does not give up its intention to occupy the entire South China Sea, the sea environment will continue to be destroyed to serve many different purposes.”
China’s coast guard held a special maritime law enforcement briefing on Sunday, during which it accused other claimant countries of damaging the ecosystems in the South China Sea while praising its own efforts to protect the environment.
Such public briefings could serve as a pre-emptive counter strike against Manila’s plan, Batongbacal said.
China Coast Guard spokesperson Liu Dejun said in an interview with the Global Times newspaper that in 2024 Chinese law enforcement cracked down on illegal fishing, illegal waste disposal and hunting of precious and endangered wildlife, detaining more than 500 foreign vessels for various violations and confiscating 15 of them.
A foreign fishing vessel was caught poaching coral, with more than 1,200 live coral specimens and large quantities of giant clam shells seized, Liu said without identifying the country that the ship came from.
