It is a World Heritage site whose exclusive helped Charles Darwin design his theory of evolution.
The waters surrounding the Galapagos Islands, an archipelago about 900 kilometers (560 miles) off Ecuador’s Pacific coast, have the last point of friction between the world’s two superpowers.
The emergence of cargoes of Chinese fishing boats near the borders of the nature reserve has led to a rebuke by US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. The Chinese government said it was being defamed by American politicians seeking to “sow discord.”
The volcanic islands, which belong to Ecuador, are known for their abundance of local species, adding the huge Galapagos tortoise and organizing bird species known as Darwin finches. The waters are also abundant in marine life.
Widespread confidence in Ecuador is that the Chinese fleet of some 260 ships was drawn to what is a rich habitat for sharks, used to make shark fin soup, considered a delicacy in China. In 2017, the Ecuadorian army captured a ship from a similar fleet that had strayed into the waters of the Galapagos and discovered more than 6,000 frozen sharks on board.
The basically Chinese fishing fleet, some under the Liberian and Panamanian flags, was detected through the Ecuadorian army last month in foreign waters between the Galapagos and the mainland. The domain is legally open to foreign fishing, however, the emergence of Chinese vessels in the domain for more than 3 years has provoked protests in Ecuador.
Pompeo intervened in the dispute over Ecuador this weekend.
“It’s time for China to avoid its unsustainable fishing practices, rule violations, and planned ocean environmental degradation,” he said via Twitter. “We, Ecuador, and call on Beijing to avoid engaging in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.”
China’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday that it had agreed on a moratorium on deep-sea fishing west of the Galapagos Protection Zone from September to November to help fishing resources.
The United States “is in a position to criticize other countries in maritime affairs,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin in Beijing, as they ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which sets rules for the control of marine resources. .
U.S.-China relations are strained by industry disputes, the rise of Chinese-generation corporations, and Hong Kong’s recent national security law. Countries also disagree on China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, as well as in Taiwan.
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Darwin’s observations of the best adaptation of Galapago species to their environment shaped the basis of their theory of evolution through the selection of herbs, which he laid out in The Origin of Species, published in 1859.
A young female whale shark named Esperanza, or Hope, labeled last year with a GPS transmitter, has disappeared near the Chinese fleet, representing a risk symbol for rare marine wildlife. To protest the effect of the fleet, Galapagos islanders chained plastic bottles with Chinese labels that came to shore.
Since 2018, President Lenin Moreno has maintained Ecuador’s ties with the United States and turned his back on the ex-honors of Cuba and Venezuela. It allowed U.S. anti-narcotics surveillance aircraft to refuel in the Galapagos, and last year Ecuador participated in U.S.-led naval exercises.
Despite its warmer relations with the United States, Ecuador cannot alienate China, which owes $5.3 billion and is one of its largest export markets.
China is Ecuador’s largest shrimp customer, the country’s second largest export, and Quito will lift restrictions after Covid-19 lines were discovered on some packaging. Ecuador is also close to getting $2.4 billion in new loans from China, according to the Ministry of Finance.
– With Iain Marlow, Alan Crawford, Karen Leigh and Lucille Liu