Beijing issues ecological report to solidify South China Sea claims amid US row

China has published ecological assessment reports on nine disputed China-sea" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="8346" data-entity-type="location">South China Sea features, amid an escalating row with Washington over Beijing’s establishment of a “national nature reserve” in the contested waters.On Friday, the Ministry of Natural Resources’ China-sea-bureau" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="186036" data-entity-type="organization">China-sea" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="8346" data-entity-type="location">South China Sea Bureau issued its 2025 marine ecological early-warning and monitoring bulletin, alongside a separate marine ecological protection and restoration report for the region. The releases were announced via an article posted on the ministry’s official social media account.While the full reports have not yet been made public, the ministry stated that the bulletin represented “the first comprehensive assessment” of overall ecological conditions across the Paracels, known in Chinese as the Xisha Islands, and the Spratlys or Nansha Islands, as well as the Macclesfield Bank and surrounding reefs, part of what China calls the Zhongsha Islands.