China has installed a new floating barrier at Scarborough Shoal, according to satellite imagery, as tensions rise between Beijing and Manila over the disputed atoll in the South China Sea.
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The barrier was seen blocking the entrance to the lagoon at the shoal in the image obtained by Satellogic, a geospatial company headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay.
“New satellite imagery shows an illegal floating barrier installed by the People’s Republic of China at the mouth of Scarborough Shoal,” Luke Fischer, the CEO and co-founder of SkyFi, a US-based app for satellite data, wrote on social media.
New collision of Chinese-Philippine ships in South China Sea
New collision of Chinese-Philippine ships in South China Sea
It is not clear when the barrier was installed, but Ray Powell, a maritime security expert and director of the SeaLight transparency project that analysed the high-resolution imagery, said on social media that the image was from October 8.
Powell said it was not the first time China had installed a floating barrier at the contested shoal.
“This was just a particularly vivid shot from space,” he said on Wednesday. “The clear intention, however, is to restrict access to the shoal.”
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The Chinese foreign ministry and the Philippine Coast Guard did not immediately respond to inquiries from the South China Morning Post.
Tensions over Scarborough Shoal – known as Huangyan Island in China and Panatag Shoal in the Philippines – have intensified in recent months, with confrontations between their coastguards as well as warships.