CHINA-SOVEREIGNTY: CHINA REASSERTS SOVEREIGNTY OVER SOUTH CHINA SEA ISLANDS
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The Global Times (April 19) reported that China's State Council had announced the establishment of two new districts in the city of Sansha "to administer waters in the South China Sea" and "for better scientific management and to safeguard territorial sovereignty." Xisha District will administer the Xisha and Zhongsha islands and surrounding waters with government located in Yongxing Island; Nansha District has jurisdiction over the Nansha Islands and its waters with government located in the Yongshu Isles. Qian Feng, a Senior Fellow at the Taihe Institute and Director of the Research Department of the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University in Beijing, observed that the establishment of the two districts was also aimed at reiterating China's actual jurisdiction in the South China Sea given the frequent intrusions by US warships and aircraft into the region, challenging China's sovereignty and endangering China's maritime security. The Chinese authorities also released on April 19 standard names for 25 islands and reefs as well as 55 undersea geographic entities in the South China Sea in a move that Chinese experts praised for reaffirming China's sovereignty in the region. China's Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Natural Resources released the names, longitudes and latitudes of these places. The listed islands included Sanzhizai, an islet north of Yongxing Island in Sansha city, South China's Hainan Province.
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