Tribunal told of massive reef damage

The Philippine panel on Thursday criticized China for its reclamation activities in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) that it said have posed a significant threat to the marine environment.

Malacañang deputy spokesman Abigail Valte said Kent Carpenter, a professor at the Department of Biological Sciences at Old Dominion University in the United States, gave a presentation on the third day of the hearings of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, The Netherlands, and expounded on the damage that China has been causing to the complex coral reef ecosystem in the South China Sea.