the shoal after talks between the Philippine President Duterte and his Chinese counterparts.[10] However fishermen were prohibited from using dynamite fishing or other methods, including clam digging, that could harm the ecology of the reefs.[10]

In January 2017, the International Business Times reported the possibility of land reclamation at Scarborough shoal by the PRC. However, photos of the shoal posted by CSIS have, to date, not shown any evidence of reclamation activity.[10][18]

Sovereignty dispute

Claims by China and Taiwan

Map depicting the PRC's territorial claims in South China Sea, with Scarborough Shoal depicted within the Nine-dotted line of 1947

The People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) claim that Chinese people discovered the shoal centuries ago and that there is a long history of Chinese fishing activity in the area.The shoal lies within the nine-dotted line drawn by China on maps marking its claim to islands and relevant waters consistent with United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) within the South China Sea.[19] An article published in May 2012 in the PLA Daily states that Chinese astronomerGuo Shoujing went to the island in 1279, under the Yuan dynasty, as part of an empire-wide survey called "Measurement of the Four Seas" (四海测验).[20] In 1979 historical geographer Han Zhenhua (韩振华) was among the first scholars to claim that the point called "Nanhai" (literally, "South Sea") in that astronomical survey referred to Scarborough Shoal.[21] In 1980 during a conflict with Vietnam for sovereignty over the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands), however, the Chinese government issued an official document