China maintains a permanent coast guard and fishing presence in the South China Sea to secure its sovereignty, including hundreds in the Spratly Islands, where they also claim ownership of the Philippines, Brunei, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Satellite Imaging Satellite Imaging Company Simularity on Monday released five years of public satellite imagery showing damage from untreated human waste from Chinese ships.
“We are making sure that this waste is dumped … If such irresponsible actions are true, we consider it to be causing serious damage to the marine environment in the region,” Philippine Defense Secretary Dolphin Lorenzana said in a statement.
“Despite the conflicting claims and interests of countries in the South China Sea, all countries must be responsible for our natural resources and environment.”
At a forum on Monday, Liz Deer, co-founder and CEO of Simularity, said the waste would threaten fish stocks.
“It’s so intense, you can see it from space,” Derr said.
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to media requests for comment on the simulation report.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, through which about $ 3 trillion in shipping passes each year. In 2016, an arbitral tribunal in The Hague ruled that the case was inconsistent with international law.
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