Key Facts about Sabina Shoal

About Sabina Shoal:

• It is also known as Xianbin Reef. It is an oceanic coral atoll that developed on top of a seamount in the eastern part of the Spratlys Islands in the South China Sea.
• It is located some 75 nautical miles from the Philippine province of Palawan.
• It is considered to be within the Philippines 200-nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
• China, however, claims the shoal and much of the South China Sea as its sovereign territory and has maintained a continuous presence there. It is located 630 nautical miles from China.
• It extends close to 23 km along its northwest-southeast axis.
• It is composed of two main parts connected by a narrow section.
• The western part measures 13 km long by 6 km wide and is larger than the eastern part, which measures 10 km by 3 km.
• They both have a central lagoon surrounded by a coral ring made of discontinuous shallow sections.