European Union Ambassador to the Philippines Luc Veron on Monday, Sept. 25, expressed concern over China’s move to install a floating barrier in the southeast portion of Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc), blocking the access of Filipino fishermen.

(Photo from PCG spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela/Twitter)

“Deeply concerning news. The installation of the floating barrier is dangerous, detrimental to the livelihoods of (Philippine) fishermen, and disregards the peace-driven objectives of UNCLOS,” the envoy posted on X (formerly Twitter) as he referred to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

UNCLOS sets out a comprehensive regime of law and order in oceans and seas, and was repeatedly the basis of the international community’s call for China to behave in the contested South China Sea.

Veron, who heads the delegation of the 27 member-state bloc’s in the Philippines, made the remarks after both the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) “strongly condemn” the installation of the 300-meter floating barrier.

PCG spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela posted photos and a video of the installed floating barrier taken during the PCG’s routine maritime patrol on Sept. 22.

The shoal, which is the largest atoll in the South China Sea, is claimed by China, including about 90 percent of the entire sea. These claims overlap with the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei.

In 2012, Scarborough Shoal became the site of a standoff between the Philippines and China after the latter seized the shoal and forced fishermen out of their traditional fishing grounds.

This triggered the Philippines, helmed by the late former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, to question Beijing’s nine-dash line claim before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague.

In July 2016, the victory of invalidating the nine-dash line claim was awarded to the Philippines but it was under the term of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who called it a “scrap of paper.”

The shoal was declared a common fishing ground for Filipinos, Chinese, and Vietnamese but Tarriela said in his post that Filipino fishermen claimed the China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels usually install floating barriers whenever they monitor a large number of Filipino fishermen in the area.