Meaning of Zhongsha | Babel Free

Definitions

A collection of areas in the South China Sea, including Macclesfield Bank, Scarborough Shoal, Truro Shoal, and other areas claimed by China (PRC) and Taiwan (ROC); some of these areas are claimed by the Philippines.

Examples

“The Zhongsha Islands, situated to the southeast of the Xisha, are composed of more than 20 reefs and shoals. The Nansha Islands contain more than 100 islets, reefs, shoals and sand bars studding the vast southern sea area south of the Zhongsha Islands.”

地理

“The shoals and reefs of Zhongsha (or the Macclesfield Bank) do not emerge even at low water. It does, however, serve as a mid-sea anchorage area. The Chinese (and Taiwanese) assumption of territoriality—even to the extent of naming the submerged formations—provides a reference point for contiguous water and seabed claims.”

“3. Zhongsha Island. There are many sandbanks scattered far and wide on Zhongsha Island; they start in the south at latitude 15°24’N and terminate at latitude 16°15’N; in the west they start at longitude 113°40’E and terminate at longitude 114°47’E. Many coral reefs are submerged, some 10-20 m deep. Although the Zhongsha Island is submerged at present, it may come to the surface in a few years’ time and become a proper island and shoal, for the coral is rising with formidable rapidity, sometimes by one metre a year.”

“Scarborough is special because it is the only above-water feature in China’s claimed Zhongsha Islands. The Philippines forced Chinese ships away, tore down Chinese markers, and placed its flag on contested areas.”

“In addition, the ROC maintains a historical claim to four groups of islands scattered over a vast area in the South China Sea that is surrounded by rich fishing grounds and gas and oil deposits. These are the Dongsha (Pratas) Islands 東沙群島, the Nansha (Spratly) Islands 南沙群島, the Xisha (Paracel) Islands 西沙群島, and the Zhongsha Islands (Macclesfield Bank) 中沙群島.”

“A 1916 Philippines Supreme Court decision over a shipwreck on Scarborough Shoal bolsters Manila's territorial claim to the reef, which China also claims, a maritime law expert says.[…] Furthermore, a 1916 court case in Manila pre-dated China's official inclusion of the shoal as part of what it calls the Zhongsha Islands in 1935, Batongbacal said. The 1916 case involved S.S. Nippon, a Swedish cargo ship which ran aground on the shoal on May 8, 1913, as it sailed from Manila to Singapore.”

“On 19 November 2007, China created the district of Sansha which encompasses the Paracels (Xisha Qundao), the Spratlys (Nansha qundao) and Zhongsha qundao, a fictitious archipelago which gathers the submarine elevation of Macclesfield Bank, the submarine elevation of Truro shoal and Scarborough reef, and the waters these archipelagos are supposed to generate around them.”

“After Google Maps dropped Scarborough Shoal, a longstanding name taken from a ship that smashed against it in 1784, and described the island as part of the Zhongsha island chain of China, many people in the Philippines complained.”

“(b) China’s Position on the Status of Scarborough Shoal 459. China claims sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal, which in China is known as “Huangyan Dao” and treated as part of the Zhongsha Islands.⁵⁰⁰ 460. In China’s 1958 Declaration of the Government of the People’s Republic of China on China’sTerritorial Sea, China declared a twelve mile nautical sea from “all territories . . . including . . .the Zhongsha Islands.”⁵⁰¹ China’s 1992 Law on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone also included the Zhongsha Islands in China’s territorial land which generated a 12-nautical mile territorial sea.⁵⁰²”

“Pentagon officials had previously said the drone would be handed over to the crew of a US warship in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in the Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha Islands, 中沙群島).”

“Huangyan Dao (Scarborough Shoal), also known as Minzhu Jiao (Democracy Reef), is located about 160 nautical miles southeast of the Zhongsha Islands between latitude 15°08'N and 15°14'N and longitude 117°44'E and 117°48'E. In 1748, an English ship named Scarborough grounded here, so the Westerners named it Scarborough Reef.”

CEFR level