Subi Reef, also known as Zamora Reef ( tl, Bahura ng Zamora, lit=Reef of

Zamora Zamora may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe Spain * Zamora, Spain, a city in the autonomous community of Castilla y León * Province of Zamora, a province in the autonomous community of Castilla y León * Associated with the city and ...

); Zhubi Reef (

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

); vi, đá Xu Bi, is a

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic processes—deposition (geology), deposition of ...

in the

Spratly Islands The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed ...

of the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

located southwest of

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

' Pag-asa island Thitu Island under the municipality of the Kalayaan Island Group, Palawan province. It is occupied by China (PRC), and claimed by Taiwan (ROC) and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

. According to the claims of the PRC, it currently falls under the ''de facto'' jurisdiction of

Nansha islands The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed ...

Sansha city Sansha City () is a prefecture-level city under the Hainan province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), and is the southernmost and least populated prefecture in China, with the smallest land area but the largest maritime territory. The ci ...

Hainan province Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slight ...

, China. But under the clauses of the UNCLOS, which the PRC is also a signatory, the international law (if applied) only the Philippines has the maritime rights to exploit its resources or build structures, as it is within the continental shelf ("

Extended Continental Shelf Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * Ex ...

") of the coastal country.

Topography and features

The atoll measures along its longer southwest-northeast axis, and is up to wide. Its total area including the lagoon and rim of the reef measures , and the lagoon is up to deep. Naturally above water only at low tide, the reef surrounds a lagoon. The

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...

has constructed a 4-story building, a weather observation station with

doppler weather radar Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly pulse- ...

wharfs A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring location ...

, and an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

in the area. A

buoy A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. Types Navigational buoys * Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of ya ...

ed channel guides ships to the inner

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons' ...

which is in diameter.

UNCLOS Maritime Ruling

On 12 July 2016, the UNCLOS special arbitral tribunal in the Philippines v. China case confirmed that Subi Reef is, or in its natural condition was, exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide and is, accordingly a low-tide elevation that does not generate entitlement to a

territorial sea The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and poten ...

, exclusive economic zone or continental shelf, but is within 12 miles of a high-tide feature, Sandy Cay on the reefs west of Pag-asa Island ( Thitu Island). p.174 As the Subi Reef is under the water, it is considered by the Third

United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

(UNCLOS III) as "sea bed" in "international waters". Although the PRC had ratified a limited UNCLOS III not allowing innocent passage of warships, according to the UNCLOS III, features built on the sea bed cannot have territorial waters. Therefore, the PRC's claims and build-up on the reef are illegal. The

however, having a limited naval force, was unable to enforce occupation over the reef.

Environmental issues

The PRC has ratified UNCLOS III; the convention establishes general obligations for safeguarding the marine environment and protecting freedom of scientific research on the high seas, and also creates an innovative legal regime for controlling mineral resource exploitation in deep seabed areas beyond national jurisdiction, through an International Seabed Authority and the Common heritage of mankind principle.Jennifer Frakes, The Common Heritage of Mankind Principle and the Deep Seabed, Outer Space, and Antarctica: Will Developed and Developing Nations Reach a Compromise? Wisconsin International Law Journal. 2003; 21:409

Territorial disputes

The reef is controlled by China (PRC), with a 2014 estimate of 200 troops stationed there, and claimed by

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

(ROC), and

. In July 2012, a large fleet of 30 Chinese fishing vessels arrived at the reef from Hainan. In April 2015, a

Philippine Navy The Philippine Navy (PN) ( tgl, Hukbong Dagat ng Pilipinas, , Sea Army of the Philippines) ( es, Armada de Filipinas, , Ejército del Mar de las Filipinas) is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It has an es ...

aircraft patrolling near the reef received "aggressive action" from a Chinese ship. Also in 2015, the USS ''Lassen'' sailed within 12 nautical miles (which if applicable is the

territorial waters The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potenti ...

limit of the reef), prompting the Chinese Foreign Ministry to call the action a "provocation" and vowed to keep building up in the

. As per the US Navy, this was a routine "freedom of navigation" exercise. Similar exercises are performed routinely about 12–28 times per year. Subi Reef, Spratly Islands

During 2014, the PRC started reclaiming land at Subi Reef, and by the end of 2015 had developed it into an island of , with a military base, a large harbor, and an airstrip of about . In November 2015, two U.S. B-52 strategic bombers flew in airspace near the area. They were contacted by Chinese ground control, but were allowed to continue their mission undeterred. In April 2016 a new lighthouse 55 meters (180') high commenced operations. A civilian test flight to the new airport was conducted by a passenger jet of

Hainan Airlines Hainan Airlines Co., Ltd. (HNA, ) is an airline headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, People's Republic of China. The airline is rated as a 5-star airline by Skytrax. It is the largest civilian-run and majority state-owned air transport company, m ...

on July 13, 2016.

References

External links