China eyes marine park in South China Sea

MANILA, Philippines — In addition to their military facilities in the disputed South China Sea, Beijing is also proposing a national park in the region.

Chinese-run newspaper Global Times reported that China's top legislature said that a national park in the South China Sea would help preserve marine ecology in the region.

Deng Xiaogang, a deputy of China's National People's Congress (NPC), stressed the important of protecting resources, such as coral reefs in the area.

China's southern Hainan province would be qualified to build the country's first national marine park and they could learn from the experience from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Deng told Global Times.

Wang Changren, another deputy of China's NPC, said that countries in the region should reach a consensus on preserving marine ecology in the contested waters.

"A national park in the region can improve people's awareness of the region's importance, and the South China Sea should be a textbook for marine protection in China," Wang told Global Times.

In September 2017, China released a plan to build 10 national parks that would focus on protection of pandas, rivers and forests by the end of 2020. None of these, however, included preserving marine life.

Washington-based think tank Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative earlier released a report showing that the marine ecosystem of the South China Sea is seriously threatened by overfishing.

This damage is also brought about by harmful fishing practices, large-scale clam harvesting and dredging for island construction.

"Total fish stocks in the South China Sea have been depleted by 70-95 percent since the 1950s and catch rates have declined by 66-75 percent over the last 20 years," the AMTI said in its Sept. 13, 2017 report.

"The entire South China Sea fishery, which officially employs around 3.7 million people and helps feed hundreds of millions, is now in danger of collapse unless claimants act urgently to arrest the decline," it said.

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