BEIJING, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- China announced Wednesday its approval of a plan to establish the Huangyan Dao national nature reserve in a necessary measure to protect its marine ecological environment.

The Huangyan Dao national nature reserve is located in Sansha City, Hainan Province, covering an area of 3,523.67 hectares. Its primary conservation focus is the coral reef ecosystem, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

The establishment of the nature reserve will provide an important institutional guarantee for the conservation of the diversity, stability and sustainability of Huangyan Dao's natural ecosystem in the South China Sea.

Huangyan Dao, which is part of China's Zhongsha Qundao, is China's inherent territory, and China has exercised sovereignty and jurisdiction over Huangyan Dao in a continuous and effective manner. The establishment of the nature reserve is a matter that falls under China's sovereignty and conforms to international practices.

As a major maritime country, China has always attached great importance to the protection of the marine ecological environment and biodiversity. The country has strengthened top-level design and improved its legal and institutional frameworks to advance marine eco-environmental protection.

Among its vast environmental protection efforts, China had established more than 350 marine protected areas by 2024, including 14 national maritime nature reserves. Today, the number of recorded marine species in China has reached 28,000, accounting for about 11 percent of the global total.

Employing such measures as safeguarding ecological corridors, raising species' level of protection, carrying out scientific research and monitoring, and imposing fishing moratoriums in key sea areas, China is dedicated to safeguarding eco-environmental security, and to improving the diversity, stability and sustainability of marine ecosystems. China's marine eco-environment has shown overall improvement in recent years.

The Huangyan Dao area has an excellent environmental quality and a healthy coral reef ecosystem, per a report that China released in July last year. The report was based on a two-month on-site investigation carried out by multiple domestic research institutions.

The establishment of the national nature reserve will strengthen the protection and supervision of the marine environment in the Huangyan Dao area.

It should be noted that the Philippines has gravely damaged the eco-environment of the South China Sea. A Philippine military vessel that was illegally grounded at China's Ren'ai Jiao in 1999 -- and remains there today -- has had destructive impacts on the area's coral reef ecosystem.

A recent report by China's Huayang Center for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance stated that the current Philippine government has adopted an adventurist policy in the South China Sea. It said that since 2023, Philippine vessels have deliberately collided with Chinese patrol vessels on multiple occasions in the areas such as China's Huangyan Dao, Ren'ai Jiao and Xianbin Jiao. These dangerous moves also pose a grave threat to the marine environment.

China will strengthen marine eco-environmental protection through its own efforts and international cooperation, while resolutely safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity and maritime interests. ■