US slams Chinese ‘nature reserve’ as effort to claim South China Sea

The US State Department has accused China of attempting to deny Filipino vessels access to fishing grounds in the contested area.Published On 8 Aug 20268 Aug 2026The United States has slammed China over a territorial dispute with the Philippines in the South China Sea, a key maritime region that has emerged as a flash point for questions of regional sovereignty.In a statement on Saturday, the US State Department said China was seeking to deny Filipino fishermen access to the area surrounding the Scarborough Reef, near the island of Luzon.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3China puts the ‘squeeze’ on Taiwan with new maritime patrolslist 2 of 3Philippines accuses China of using water cannon on vessels for second daylist 3 of 3Rubio says US, China must ‘work through’ big differences at ASEAN meetingend of listIt also rejected China’s claims that the area constituted a “nature reserve”, dismissing the assertion as a bid by Beijing to advance its territorial ambitions.“The United States rejects China’s ongoing attempts to enforce its destabilizing ‘national nature reserve’ at Scarborough Reef and deny Filipino fishermen access to their traditional fishing ground,” the stateme...