\n \n Vibrant reefs filled with colorful fish and seaweed just two years ago have been turned into a wasteland of crushed corals in the South China Sea and the Philippines says it has identified a culprit \u2013 China\u2019s shadowy maritime militia.\n <\/p>\n \n China has rejected the accusation, setting up another public disagreement with its neighbor over the flashpoint waterway.\n <\/p>\n \n Videos released Monday by the Philippine Coast Guard showed a vast patch of bleached corals along the Rozul (Iroquios) Reef and Sabina (Escoda) Shoal in the South China Sea, which are underwater features within the country\u2019s internationally recognized exclusive economic zone (EEZ).\n <\/p>\n \n Both reefs are near Palawan, the Philippines\u2019 southwestern island chain fronting the South China Sea, but Beijing claims most of the large and strategic waterway as its own territory despite competing claims by neighbors and in defiance of an international ruling.\n <\/p>\n \n Commodore Jay Tarriela, the coast guard spokesman, said divers had carried out \u201cunderwater surveys\u201d of the seabed and described \u201cvisible discoloration\u201d that indicated \u201cdeliberate activities\u201d meant to modify the natural topography of the terrain.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe continued swarming for the indiscriminate illegal and destructive fishing activities of the Chinese Maritime Militia in Rozul Reef and Escoda Shoal may have directly caused the degradation and destruction of the marine environment in the [West Philippine Sea] features,\u201d Tarriela said in a statement, referring to Manila\u2019s name for parts of the South China Sea within its jurisdiction.\n <\/p>\n \n Tarriela said between August 9 and September 11, the coast guard monitored 33 Chinese vessels within the vicinity of Rozul Reef and around 15 Chinese ships near Escoda Shoal.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe presence of crushed corals strongly suggests a potential act of dumping, possibly involving the same dead corals that were previously processed and cleaned before being returned to the seabed,\u201d Tarriela added.\n <\/p>\n \n The Philippine military last Saturday also accused China\u2019s maritime militia of massive destruction in the area.\n <\/p>\n \n Chinese authorities did not comment publicly on the accusations until Thursday when the foreign ministry was asked at a regular daily briefing about the destruction of the corals.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe relevant allegations of the Philippine side are false and groundless,\u201d spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters. \u201cWe advise the Philippine authorities not to utilize fabricated information to stage a political farce.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Beijing claims \u201cindisputable sovereignty\u201d over almost all of the 1.3 million square miles of the South China Sea, as well as most of the islands and sandbars within it, including many features that are hundreds of miles away from China\u2019s mainland. That includes the Spratlys, an archipelago consisting of 100 small islands and reefs also claimed in full or part by the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.\n <\/p>\n \n Over the last two decades China has occupied a number of reefs and atolls across the South China Sea, building up military installations<\/a>, including runways and ports, which have not only challenged the Philippines\u2019 sovereignty and fishing rights but also endanger the marine biodiversity in the highly contested resource-rich waterway.\n <\/p>\n \n Some of the atolls and islands that were built on saw sustained land reclamation take place,<\/a> often with reefs being destroyed first and then built on.\n <\/p>\n \n In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a landmark maritime dispute, which concluded that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea.\n <\/p>\n \n But Beijing has ignored the decision and continues to expand its presence in the waterway.\n <\/p>\n \n The recent Philippine coastguard footage of broken and bleached coral is in stark contrast to just two years ago.\n <\/p>\n \n The University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute said in a statement to CNN it had surveyed a portion of the Rozul (Iroquios) Reef in 2021 through an expedition funded by the country\u2019s National Security Council on board M\/Y Panata.\n <\/p>\n \n Videos and photos taken by the institute in 2021 showed the Rozul (Iroquios) Reef specked with red and purple colored corals with aquatic algae and moss lining the reef.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAt that time, we found that the surveyed area had a reef ecosystem, with corals, benthic animals, fishes, seaweeds, and other marine organisms,\u201d it said, but stopped short on commenting on the current status of the reef since the latest information from the Philippine army and coast guard were \u201cbeyond the purview\u201d of the institute.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThat said, we are open to working with other agencies to validate and analyze the impacts of recent activities in the area. Situations like this emphasize the need for continuous monitoring and support for more Marine Scientific Research activities by Filipino scientists especially in the West Philippine Sea,\u201d it added.\n <\/p>\n \n Signs of the marine degradation underscored the threats of coral harvesting in the territory, prompting several Filipino senators to raise suspicion over whether China has plans to militarize the atolls through reclamation, CNN affiliate CNN Philippines<\/a> reported.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s a wake-up call,\u201d said Gerry Arances, executive director of the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED).\n <\/p>\n \n The images have exposed the marine impacts of China\u2019s construction of island facilities in the waters, frequent militia vessel patrols and expansive commercial fishing, Arances said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt surfaces a lot of weaknesses, in terms of monitoring, regulating, and overall protecting marine biodiversity,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Western marine security experts, along with officials from the Philippines and the United States, have increasingly accused Beijing of using ostensibly civilian fishing vessels as a maritime militia that acts as an unofficial \u2013 and officially deniable \u2013 force that China uses to push its territorial claims both in the South China Sea and beyond.\n <\/p>\n \n Dubbed Beijing\u2019s \u201clittle blue men\u201d<\/a>, Chinese fishing vessels have also been involved in clashes with fishing vessels from Indonesia and Vietnam in contested waters.\n <\/p>\n \n Last month, the Philippines said a clash between Chinese coastguard and Philippine vessels<\/a> included at least two blue-hulled vessels that looked like fishing vessels.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere has been a collective failure internationally to respond to China\u2019s actions in the South China Sea, with regard to its militarizing the reefs and the shoals where China has, over a period of time, taken pristine marine features and turned them into concrete military bases and the collective response of much of the environmental advocacy groups has been silenced,\u201d said Ray Powell, director of SeaLight at the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University.\n <\/p>\n \n The Philippines\u2019 growing calls for transparency on China\u2019s maneuvers in the disputed waters have enabled the country to garner international support from its allies to affirm its territorial sovereignty, Powell added.\n <\/p>\n \n At least two foreign ambassadors in Manila have expressed alarm over reports of destruction of marine resources in the South China Sea.\n <\/p>\n \n United States Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson described the reports on coral destruction around the reefs as \u201ctroubling<\/a>,\u201d according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cHabitat damage harms ecosystems and negatively affects lives and livelihoods. We are working with our #FriendsPartnersAllies to protect [the Philippines\u2019] natural resources,\u201d she said on Monday.\n <\/p>\n
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