Liangyungang Maritime Safety Administration (Lianyungang 连云港 is a city in Jiangsu Province) has prohibited ships from entering a designated area in the southern Yellow Sea — a no-sail zone — from 8am on May 22 to 8am on May 27, local time, without providing a reason.
Based on coordinates provided by Lianyungang MSA, the "no-sail zone" is located on the mid-eastern side of the Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ), within South Korea's EEZ. The PMZ is an area where the Chinese and the South Korean EEZs overlap.
China has installed three structures — including a steel rig — on the western side of the PMZ. Seoul is concerned that they may be part of China's efforts to expand its territorial presence, while Beijing has downplayed South Korea's worries, saying they are aquaculture facilities.
China’s repeated moves — including the controversial installation of metallic structures which it claims are for salmon farming — may be part of a broader effort to solidify territorial claims ahead of a formal maritime boundary agreement.
newsweek.com/china-news-mil
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Byron Wan
@Byron_Wan
New satellite imagery has revealed for the first time a hulking steel rig that China installed in the Yellow Sea between China and South Korea — the Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ), a jointly managed stretch of the Yellow Sea (known in Korea as the West Sea) where the Chinese and x.com/Byron_Wan/stat…
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