Looting of seabed relics in South China Sea alarming: China

A surge in the looting of underwater relics around the disputed islands of the South China Sea has put the region's cultural heritage in danger, prompting Chinese officials to intensify conservation efforts.
Driven by lucrative profits, treasure hunters flock to the waters administered by China's newest city of Sansha in Hainan Province to retrieve relics of sunken ships and ancient treasures aboard them.
Home to about 1,000 people, Sansha was established last year to administer about two million square km of islands, coastal areas and territorial seas in the South China Sea where a host of countries including China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan had competing claims over the islands.

China claims sovereignty over the most of the South China Sea which was disputed by other countries in the region.
Archaeological surveys conducted in the region show lots of damage has been done to relics lying on the ocean floor, as researchers found that more artifacts have been illegally excavated or ruined.
During a survey this year, two ancient rock anchors, which were left unearthed in 2010 due to poor excavating equipment, were found missing at a relic site. Four iron cannons that were discovered by researchers in 2010 at another site have also gone.

"Looting has caused destruction of the relics. We find new damage each year," said Li Jilong, a researcher from the provincial cultural heritage bureau.

"The way treasure hunters loot the relics is destructive," he was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency today.
Historical records showed that many ancient Chinese ships struck hidden reefs during trips to southeast Asian countries, and sank in shallow waters near the islands in Sansha, which made it easier to hunt for treasure.
To gain a grasp of the region's cultural heritage, the country has carried out large-scale archaeological investigations since it reclaimed the Xisha Islands, also known as the Paracel Islands, from Vietnam in 1974.
Official data showed that a total of 128 relic sites so far have been discovered and documented in the waters administered by Sansha.

There are more than 100 sites in the waters surrounding the Xisha Islands alone and of these over half have been damaged. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage had considered building a network of unmanned surveillance platforms on the sea, but the plan was shelved due to technical problems.
"What's urgent now is to set up a joint maritime patrol mechanism, and clamp down on the trade of looted artifacts," Wang Yiping, head of the Hainan provincial cultural heritage bureau said.