[Anchor]
There is growing concern that China is installing large structures in the West Sea as a preliminary move to expand its influence in the area.
Recent claims suggest that the newly installed structures are fixed facilities with piles driven into the seabed. The Korean government has decided to address this issue as an official agenda item in diplomatic talks with China.
Reporter Yoon Jin reports.
[Report]
China has installed a large structure in the West Sea, which is a 70-meter diameter and 71-meter high aquaculture facility. Until last year, China had unilaterally set up two such facilities in the Korea-China Provisional Measure Zone in the West Sea. Recently, an additional structure was constructed under the guise of being a fishing support facility.
This large facility, measuring 100 meters in width, 80 meters in length, and 50 meters in height, resembles an oil rig, and reportedly includes a helicopter landing platform. There are suspicions that this structure is a fixed facility with piles driven into the seabed, prompting the government to investigate the situation.
If China’s fixed structures are established in the provisional zone where Korea and China conduct joint fishing activities, it could disadvantage Korea in future marine boundary delineation processes. China is currently blocking South Korean access for on-site verification.
Meanwhile, China’s naval activities have been expanding towards the Korean Peninsula since the 2000s, making China’s actions in the West Sea noteworthy.
[Park Byung-kwang / Senior Research Fellow, Institute for National Security Strategy: “Just as China claims 80% of the South China Sea as its maritime territory, China’s current actions could be seen as hindering a rational maritime boundary delineation between South Korea and China.”]
The Korean government plans to focus on discussing the unauthorized installation of structures in the West Sea at the director-general level meeting between South Korean and Chinese diplomatic authorities in Seoul later this month.
This is Yoon Jin from KBS News.
Video editing: Shin Nam-kyu / Graphics: Kim Kyung-jin / Source: China CCTV, Douyin
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