Michael Peck
China’s Encroachment In the Yellow Sea Is Making South Korea Nervous: As if tensions aren’t already running high between China and its neighbors, Beijing is provoking yet another crisis. China is building structures in the middle of the Yellow Sea, in a bid to assert sovereignty over waters that are also claimed by South Korea.
South China Sea 2.0 in the Yellow Sea?
Now South Korea may respond in kind by building its own structures in the Yellow Sea. Seoul fears that China will use these structures as springboards to claim control over surrounding waters. China has been accused of using this tactic in the South China Sea to claim Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines. Though Scarborough has not escalated into armed conflict, China’s coast guard has repeatedly harassed a Philippine garrison there.
Located between China to the west, and North and South Korea to the east, the Yellow Sea offers rich fishing grounds at a time when nations are sensitive to food security. It also has oil and gas deposits valuable for energy-hungry China and South Korea.
Despite South Korean protests, China has built three steel structures in the Yellow Sea in 2024, with the latest being spotted by South Korean spy satellites in December. The newest structure is a “mobile steel framework exceeding 50 meters [164 feet] in diameter and height,” according to South Korean media.
China also appears to have emplaced an old oil rig in the Yellow Sea in 2022, South Korean intelligence believes. The rig has been converted into a floating hotel with a helipad as well as accommodations for 70 people.
“China has reportedly described the structures as ‘fishing support facilities,’ dismissing concerns,” South Korea’s Chosun Daily newspaper noted in January 2025. “However, experts warn that continued installations could enable Beijing to assert territorial claims over the area. South Korean officials believe China plans to install up to 12 such structures.”
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