James Shoal

James Shoal is a shoal (submerged bank) in the South China Sea, with a depth of 22 metres (72 ft) below the surface of the sea, located about 45 nautical miles (83 km; 52 mi) off the Borneo coast of Malaysia. It is claimed by Malaysia, the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of China (Taiwan). The shoal and its surrounds are administered by Malaysia.

The name James Shoal first appeared in British documents as early as 1892, and is possibly named after James Brooke (1803–1868), the first White Rajah of the Kingdom of Sarawak.

Malaysia refers to James Shoal as Beting Serupai ('Serupai Shoal'), with Serupai being a place name in Tatau District, Bintulu Division, Sarawak.

Both the People's Republic of China (Mainland China) and the Republic of China (Taiwan) refer to James Shoal as Zengmu Reef / Zengmu Shoal / Zengmu Ansha/ Tseng-mu An-sha (Chinese: 曾母暗沙; pinyin: Zēngmǔ Ànshā; lit. 'James hidden-sand / James shoal').

The name James Shoal first appeared in The London Gazette on November 15, 1892, as well as in the same year's British seafaring magazine The Nautical Magazine and Journal of the Royal Naval Reserve. The article reported findings from a survey conducted by Commander A. M. Field of the British naval survey ship HMS Egeria, confirming the existence of a shoal lying off the northwestern coast of Borneo. The shoal has a depth of 12 fathoms (22 m), with surrounding waters ranging from 22–31 fathoms (40–57 m), and is located approximately 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Acis Shoals, at latitude 4°0' N, longitude 112°18' E. The origin of the name James Shoal is probably derived from James Brooke (1803–1868), the first White Rajah of the Kingdom of Sarawak.

In 1935, the Land and Water Maps Review Committee of the Republic of China (ROC) produced a list of Chinese names for the rocks and reefs of the South China Sea, most of which were simply direct translations or transliterations of English names found on British maps. In this list, James Shoal was transliterated as Zengmu Tan (Chinese: 曾姆灘; pinyin: Zēngmǔ Tān; lit. 'James sandbank'). The term “zengmu” (曾姆) is a phonetic transliteration of "James", and “tan” (灘) means beach or sandbank. A beach or a sandbank is something that emerges above water, while a shoal is an underwater feature. James Shoal is 22 metres below the surface. It would appear that in 1935 the Chinese committee was unfamiliar with the area when it declared it to be a land feature, and based its territorial claims on a piece of territory that doesn’t exist.

In October 1947, the ROC Ministry of the Interior revised the names of the islands in the South China Sea to make them sound more Chinese. The name of James Shoal was changed to Zengmu Ansha (Chinese: 曾母暗沙; pinyin: Zēngmǔ Ànshā; lit. 'James hidden-sand'). At this time, the Chinese government appeared to recognize its earlier misinterpretation of the term "shoal", because it coined the new word "ansha" (暗沙), literally “hidden sand”, as a neologism to use instead of "tan" in the name. Additionally, the transliteration of "James" was changed to 曾母 (zēngmǔ), a more Sinicized form as it can be interpreted as "the mother of Zeng", which could evoke an association with Zengzi’s mother from Confucian teachings, despite there is no actual historical connection. In December 1947, the ROC government printed an official map showing a "U-shaped line" encircling the area down to James Shoal, and claiming it as the southernmost territory of China.

In 1949, after winning the Chinese Civil War, the Chinese Communist Party established the People’s Republic of China (PRC), replacing the Republic of China (ROC) as the ruling government on the mainland and asserting its inheritance of the ROC’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. The PRC government kept the name Zengmu Ansha for James Shoal and has continued to declare it as the southernmost territory of China to this day.