Aug 14, 2026 — Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Scarborough Shoal is China’s inherent territory and that establishing and managing a national nature reserve there falls within Chinese sovereignty; the U.S. has no right to intervene. He called on the U.S. to stop stoking tensions and provoking confrontation in the South China Sea, to stop invoking the illegal and invalid "South China Sea arbitration ruling", and to stop using maritime issues to discredit China.