South Rock

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South Rock or the South Rock

1. A rock on Scarborough Shoal, in the South China Sea.
   • 1971 September 14, RDHodgson, TVMcIntyre, South China Sea: Up for Grabs‎, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, published 2012, archived from the original on May 12, 2024, pages 5–6, 15, 17:

     Miscellaneous Islands
     South Rock (15°07'N., 117°49'E.) is part of the Scarborough Shoal, which is situated on a seamount in the South China Basin. There are no known specific claims to South Rock or any of the small rocks on the Shoal; however, the Shoal would be included in the sweeping claims the Chinese have made to the South China Sea. […]
     South Rock (area A) has not been specifically claimed by anyone, except that it is included within the area encompassing the claim of both the PRC and ROC to the islets in the South China Sea. However, because of proximity the Philippines may have at least a "paper claim" to the Rock. Again there is the issue of whether or not such a small rock should be assigned anything more than a territorial sea, or whether the Rock should be removed from any consideration as a basepoint. […]
     ISLETS OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA
     The list includes only those features that are high-tide elevations. […]
     MACCLESFIELD BANK / Chung-sha Ch'un-Tao / Middle Sand Islands / 15°50'N., 114°20'E.
     SCARBOROUGH SHOAL / Min-chu Chiao / / 15°08'N., 117°45'E.
     South Rock / / / 15°06'N., 117°46'E.

   • 2005, Zou Keyuan, “Dispute over the Scarborough Reef”, in Law of the Sea in East Asia: Issues and prospects‎, Routledge, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 61:

     Scarborough Reef (Huangyan Island in Chinese) is located within the geographic coordinates of 15°08’ to 15°14’N and 117°44’ to 117°48’E. It is triangular-shaped with a circumference of 46km. The total area of the feature including the inner lagoon is 150sq km. There are several rocks on the reef, the biggest of which is South Rock (Nanyan). This feature is apparently above water at high tide (1.8m high), and situated at the southeastern extremity of the reef. Near the north of South Rock there is a channel, approximately two cables wide (370m), with depths of five to six fathoms, leading into the lagoon. In addition, North Rock (Beiyan) and several other tiny above-water coral rocks are also situated on the reef. Thus Scarborough Reef is actually a large atoll including South Rock and North Rock. According to a Chinese authority on the South China Sea, the reef is also the biggest atoll in the South China Sea.¹ It lies approximately 170nm east of Macclesfield Bank, and approximately 115nm off Zambales province on the western side of Luzon Island.

   • 2012 May 10, Victor N. Arches II, “Huangyan Island does belong to China”, in China Internet Information Center‎, sourced from Manila Standard Today, archived from the original on May 10, 2012, Editor's Pick‎:

     In the late 1970s, China organized many scientific expeditions in the shoal and around that area. In fact, in 1980, a stone marker reading "South China Sea Scientific Expedition" was installed by China on the South Rock. This Chinese marker was removed, without authority, by the Philippines in 1997.

   • 2013, Lowell Bautista, Clive Schofield, “Philippine-China Border Relations: Cautious Engagement Amid Tensions”, in Beijing's Power and China's Borders: Twenty Neighbors in Asia‎, M.E. Sharpe, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 248:

     The British Admiralty sailing directions, for example, indicate that Scarborough Reef is “steep-to on all sides and consists of a narrow belt of coral enclosing a lagoon of clear blue water” and that South Rock, at 3 meters high, is the “tallest rock” located at the southeast extremity of the reef. United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, China Sea Pilot, Vol. 2, 9th ed., Admiralty Sailing Directions, (UKHO, Taunton, 2010), 74.

   • 2013, Ran Guo, “Legal Basis of China’s Claim over the Huangyan Island”, in Journal of East Asia & International Law‎, volume 6, number 2, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 July 2018, page 549:

     The Philippine navy began to monitor and harass the International Amateur Radio Expedition to the Huangyan Island (April 30 – May 3, 1997), organized by the Chinese Radio Sports Association, and then removed the Chinese stone marker reading “the Huangyan Island,” installed by China on the South Rock in March 1990; Congressmen Roque Ablan and Jose Yap erected a Philippine flag on the Island on May 17; Philippine President Fidel Ramos said on May 21 that the Huangyan Island “is within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines,” and the Philippines had the right to exploit and develop its resources.

   • 2015, Peter Navarro, “A Hungry Cow's Tongue in the South China Sea”, in Crouching Tiger: What China's Militarism Means for the World‎, Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 142:

     Scarborough Shoal is a triangular-shaped chain of reefs, rocks, and small islands about 115 nautical miles off the Philippines’ Zambales Province on the western side of Luzon Island and well within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone. Barely thirty-four miles in circumference, the shoal covers an area of about sixty square miles while only one of its land features, South Rock, is above water at high tide.

   • 2016 July 12, PCA Case No. 2013-19 in the matter of the South China Sea arbitration before an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under Annex VII to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea between The Republic of the Philippines and the People's Republic of China : award‎, sourced from Navigation Guarantee Department of the Chinese Navy Headquarters, China Sailing Directions: South China Sea (A103), p. 172 (2011) (Annex 232(bis))., →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 January 2019, page 143:

     The North Rock on the northwest end and the South Rock on the southeast end have a surface area of approximately 10 sq. meters. They are respectively 1.5 meters and 1.8 meters above sea level. The water depth within the lagoon is 10 meters – 20 meters. The east side of South Rock has a 400-meter wide waterway, and boats can come in from the open seas to anchor.

   • 2017, Michael Green, Kathleen Hicks, Zack Cooper, John Schaus, Jake Douglas, “Case Studies of Maritime Coercion”, in Countering Coercion in Maritime Asia: The Theory and Practice of Grazy Zone Deterrence‎, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 114:

     The MCS 3001 (replacing the MCS 3006) was now 1.6 nm northeast of South Rock still within the lagoon.

   • 2021, Jinming Li, “Geographical overview of China's maritime boundaries in the South China Sea”, in Liao Jing, Fu Rongbao, transl., China's Maritime Boundaries in the South China Sea: Historical and International Law Perspectives‎, Routledge, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 9:

     Huangyan Dao (Scarborough Shoal), also known as Minzhu Jiao (Democracy Reef), is located about 160 nautical miles southeast of the Zhongsha Islands between latitude 15°08'N and 15°14'N and longitude 117°44'E and 117°48'E. In 1748, an English ship named Scarborough grounded here, so the Westerners named it Scarborough Reef. The edge of the island is steep and formed by a narrow reef belt enclosing a lagoon. Rocks scatter on the island, standing about 0.3 to 1.5 meters high. Among them, South Rock is the highest, lying on the southeast extremity of the island. To the north of South Rock runs a channel about 400 meters wide with general depths of 9.1 to 11 meters leading into the lagoon. The channel is encumbered with reef patches, leaving the entrance quite shallow, with a depth of [a] mere 2.7 meters.

   • 2023 October 4, Marvie Basilan, “Scarborough Shoal: The Strategic Reef At The Center Of China-Philippine Tensions”, in International Business Times‎, archived from the original on October 05, 2023, World‎:

     What's so special about Scarborough Shoal?
     The reefs that measure about 10 miles in width features scattered rocks and a lagoon at the center. Its most visible elevation is called South Rock.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:South Rock.