Philippines rejects China's claim of destroying coral reef in Ayungin Shoal

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines on Tuesday rejected Chinese state media's claim that its dilapidated warship grounded at Ayungin Shoal had wrecked the coral reefs in the area, saying instead that it is Beijing that has "jeopardized the natural habitat and the livelihood of thousands of Filipino fisherfolk" through its illegal island-building activities.

In a statement, Jonathan Malaya, spokesperson of the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS), called for a third-party marine scientific assessment in the West Philippine Sea "by impartial recognized experts" and cast doubt on the credibility of the "experts" cited in the article by the Global Times, an English-language newspaper run by the Chinese Communist Party.

"The accusation against the Philippines by so-called 'Chinese experts' is false and a classic misdirection. It is China who has been found to have caused irreparable damage to corals," Malaya said.

Malaya said that China's destruction of the marine environment has been established by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which ruled in 2016 that China built a large artificial island on Mischief Reef (Panganiban Reef), inflicted "permanent, irreparable harm" to the coral habitat of Mischief Reef (Panganiban Reef), and and commenced large-scale island building and construction work in Cuarteron Reef (Calderon Reef), Fiery Cross Reef (Kagitingan Reef), Gaven Reef (Burgos Reef), Johnson Reef (Mabini Reef), Hughes Reef (Mckennan Reef), and Subi Reef (Zamora Reef). 

This is the same 2016 ruling by the Hague-based tribunal that ruled in favor of the Philippines and invalidated China's sweeping claims to the South China Sea. 

Today, the "artificial islands" now serve as Chinese military bases, the NTF-WPS spokesperson added.

"We call on the public and the international community to be wary and conscious of on-going activities by Chinese state-owned media and so-called 'Chinese experts' to spread fake news and disinformation and conduct malign influence operations in the Philippines," Malaya said.

Malaya also called for an independent study to establish the cause of coral reef damages in the West Philippine Sea through underwater surveys, collated satellite imagery, photo and video references, and other scientific means.

In February, researchers who studied coral reef damages in the disputed waters found that China’s island building efforts wrecked around 4,000 acres of coral reef in the area, on top of the over 16,000 acres of coral reef damaged from Chinese fishers' giant clam harvesting. 

The study by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, which assessed 181 satellite imagery, stated that China mainly did dredging and landfill between 2013 and 2017 using "cutter-suction dredging," a method where dredgers slice through reefs and pump sediments into floating pipelines. 

In 2023, University of the Philippines scientist Deo Onda estimated that the Philippines was losing around P33 billion annually from the damage caused by China's reclamation activities to the reef ecosystems in Panatag Shoal and Spratlys Island. 
 
Malaya said in May that the Philippine government is building a possible environment case against China over their destructive activities in Panatag Shoal.