China ‘blueprint’ for Panatag Shoal includes resort facilities – analysts

China's continuing reclamation of disputed territories the South China Sea was evident in the superpower's plan to construct more facilities on the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, experts said on Friday.

According to GMA News TV program "State of the Nation with Jessica Soho", a blueprint image from a maritime security analyst in the US demonstrated that China planned to turn the shoal into another artificial island.

The image suggested that an airport, a residential zone, a channel harbor, as well as a runway, power and water plant, would be constructed on the Panatag Shoal.

The blueprint of what China called"Huangyang Island" also bore plans to turn a portion of the shoal into a "tropical travel and holiday area."

Legally, the Philippines' victory in the arbitral case against China's "nine-dash claim" covered the Panatag shoal, a common fishing ground within the country's exclusive economic zone believed to be teeming with marine resources.

However, maritime security analysts saw China still pursuing its interests in the South China Sea in spite of the ruling.

"Meron na talagang blueprint 'yung China to build facilities in the Scarborough Shoal similar with the artificial islands that China built in the Spratlys," Prof. Rommel Banlaoi told GMA News.

"Sa tingin ko, pino-postpone lang ng China 'yan pero hindi niya in-abandon," Banlaoi added.

Prof. Jay Batongbacal, who had urged the government to take a tougher stance on the reclamation efforts, likewise said, "Nandiyan pa rin 'yung plano na 'yan. Kumbaga, naka-shelf lang.

"Alalahanin natin, may katotohanan din na meron silang kasunduan kay President [Rodrigo] Duterte pero... baka naman that's only good for as long as he is the president," Batongbacal added.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) had yet to issue a statement on the blueprint, but Malacañang said the territorial dispute can possibly be brought up during a bilateral meeting between Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 10, even if the matter was not specified in the agenda. — Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News