China has begun restoring a historic stone marker on Woody Island in the Paracel chain as part of a wider effort to reinforce its sovereignty claims in the South China Sea.

According to the South China Morning Post , conservation experts from the Hainan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology spent nearly a week repairing the Xisha Recovery Monument, which commemorates China’s post–World War II takeover of the Paracel Islands. The marker, first erected in 1946 by the Kuomintang government, had weakened over decades of exposure to the island’s harsh climate.

Specialists used modern tools to strengthen the monument’s structure and clean its surface, with officials saying that regular maintenance will follow. Sansha authorities described the stone marker as “a powerful te

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