Spratly Islands

The Spratly Islands (Template:Langx;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Mandarin Template:Lang-zh; Template:Langx; Template:Langx) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed of islands, islets, cays,<ref name="Madrolle 1939">Template:Cite journal</ref> and more than 100 reefs, sometimes grouped in submerged old atolls,<ref name="ECO" /> the archipelago lies off the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia, and southern Vietnam. Named after the 19th-century British whaling captain Richard Spratly who sighted Spratly Island in 1843, the islands contain less than Template:Convert of naturally occurring land area that is spread over hundreds of square km of the South China Sea.

The Spratly Islands are one of the major archipelagos in the South China Sea which complicate governance and economics in this part of Southeast Asia due to their location in strategic shipping lanes. The islands are largely uninhabited, but offer rich fishing grounds and may contain significant oil and natural gas reserves, and as such are important to the claimants in their attempts to establish international boundaries. Some of the islands have civilian settlements, but of the approximately 45 islands, cays, reefs and shoals that are occupied, all contain structures that are occupied by military forces from Malaysia, China (PRC), Taiwan (ROC), the Philippines, and Vietnam. Additionally, Brunei has claimed an exclusive economic zone in the southeastern part of the Spratly Islands, which includes the uninhabited Louisa Reef.

Geographic and economic overview

File:Spratly Islands in the South China Sea Department of State map 2016587286 (2015).jpg

The Spratly Islands

File:Mapspratly.jpg

A geographic map of Spratly IslandsTemplate:Efn

In 1939, the Spratly Islands were coral islets mostly inhabited by seabirds.<ref name="Madrolle 1939" /> Despite the Spratly Islands naturally consisting of 19 islands (see below), according to a Chinese 1986 source, the Spratly Islands consist of 14 islands or islets, 6 banks, 113 submerged reefs, 35 underwater banks and 21 underwater shoals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The northeast part of the Spratly Islands is known as Dangerous Ground and is characterised by many low islands, sunken reefs, and degraded, sunken atolls with coral often rising abruptly from ocean depths greater than Template:Convert – all of which makes the area dangerous for navigation.

The islands are all of similar nature; they are cays (or keys): sand islands formed on old degraded and submerged coral reefs.

The Spratly Islands contain almost no arable land, are largely uninhabited, and very few of the islands have a permanent drinkable water supply.<ref name="BBC 2011-06-13" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Natural resources include fish, guano, oil and natural gas.<ref>Note, however, that a 2013 US EIA report questions the economic viability of many of the potential reserves.</ref> Economic activity has included commercial fishing, shipping, guano mining, oil and gas exploitation, and more recently, tourism. The Spratly Islands are located near several primary shipping lanes.

The islands and cays, listed in descending order of naturally occurring area, are:

#	Island name	in Atoll	Area (ha.)	Location	Currently occupied by	Reclaimed area
1	Itu Aba Island	Tizard Bank	46.00	Template:Coord	Taiwan (Taiping Island)	~6 ha
2	Thitu Island	Thitu Reefs	37.20	Template:Coord	Philippines (Pagasa Island)
3	West York Island	West York Island	18.60	Template:Coord	Philippines (Likas Island)
4	Spratly Island	Spratly Island	13.00	Template:Coord	Vietnam (Trường Sa Island)
5	Northeast Cay	North Danger Reef	12.70	Template:Coord	Philippines (Parola Island)
6	Southwest Cay	North Danger Reef	12.00	Template:Coord	Vietnam (Song Tử Tây Island)	~8 ha
7	Sin Cowe Island	Union Banks	08.00	Template:Coord	Vietnam (Sinh Tồn Island)	~1 ha
8	Nanshan Island	Nanshan Group	07.93	Template:Coord	Philippines (Lawak Island)
9	Sand Cay	Tizard Bank	07.00	Template:Coord	Vietnam (Sơn Ca Island)	~2.1 ha<ref name="CSIS">Template:Cite web</ref>
10	Loaita Island	Loaita Bank	06.45	Template:Coord	Philippines (Kota Island)
11	Swallow Reef	Swallow Reef	06.20	Template:Coord	Malaysia (Layang-Layang Reef)
12	Namyit Island	Tizard Bank	05.30	Template:Coord	Vietnam (Nam Yết Island)
13	Amboyna Cay	Amboyna Cay	01.60	Template:Coord	Vietnam (An Bang Island)
14	Grierson Reef	Union Banks	01.60	Template:Coord	Vietnam (Sinh Tồn Đông Island)
15	West London Reef	London Reefs	01.10	Template:Coord	Vietnam (Đá Tây A Island)
16	Central London Reef	London Reefs	00.88	Template:Coord	Vietnam (Trường Sa Đông Island)
17	Flat Island	Nanshan Group	00.57	Template:Coord	Philippines (Patag Island)
18	Lankiam Cay	Loaita Bank	00.44	Template:Coord	Philippines (Panata Island)

The total area of the archipelago's naturally occurring islands is Template:Convert and Template:Convert with reclaimed land.

Due to confusion, the Spratly Islands at times were also referred to as the Paracels.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Geology

The Spratly Islands consist of islands, reefs, banks and shoals made up of biogenic carbonate. These accumulations of biogenic carbonate lie upon the higher crests of major submarine ridges that are uplifted fault blocks known by geologists as horsts.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> These horsts are part of a series of half-grabens and rotated fault-blocks which lie parallel and en echelon. The long axes of the horsts, rotated fault blocks and half-grabens form well-defined linear trends that lie parallel to magnetic anomalies exhibited by the oceanic crust of the adjacent South China Sea. The horsts, rotated fault blocks, and the rock forming the bottoms of associated grabens consist of stretched and subsided continental crust that is composed of Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous strata that include calc-alkalic extrusive igneous rocks, intermediate to acid intrusive igneous rocks, sandstones, siltstones, dark-green claystones, and metamorphic rocks that include biotite–muscovite–feldspar–quartz migmatites and garnet–mica schists.<ref name="Hutchison2010a">Hutchison, C. S., and V. R. Vijayan, 2010, What are the Spratly Islands? Journal of Asian Earth Science. vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 371–385.</ref><ref name="Wei2011a">Wei-Weil, D., and L, Jia-Biao, 2011, Seismic Stratigraphy, Tectonic Structure and Extension Factors Across the Dangerous Grounds: Evidence from Two Regional Multi-Channel Seismic Profiles. Chinese Journal of Geophysics. vol. 54, no. 6, pp. 921–941.</ref><ref name="Zhen2013a">Zhen, S., Z. Zhong-Xian, L. Jia-Biao, Z. Di, and W. Zhang-Wen, 2013, Tectonic Analysis of the Breakup and Collision Unconformities in the Nansha Block. Chinese Journal of Geophysics. vol. 54, no. 6, pp. 1069–1083.</ref>

The dismemberment and subsidence of continental crust into horsts, rotated fault blocks and half-grabens that underlie the Spratly Islands and surrounding sea bottom occurred in two distinct periods. They occurred as the result of the tectonic stretching of continental crust along underlying deeply rooted detachment faults. During the Late Cretaceous and Early Oligocene, the earliest period of tectonic stretching of continental crust and formation of horsts, half-grabens, and rotated fault-blocks occurred in association with the rifting and later sea-floor spreading that created the South China Sea. During the Late Oligocene-Early Miocene additional stretching and block faulting of continental crust occurred within the Spratly Islands and adjacent Dangerous Ground. During and after this period of tectonic activity, corals and other marine life colonised the crests of the horsts and other ridges that lay in shallow water. The remains of these organisms accumulated over time as biogenic carbonates that comprise the current day reefs, shoals and cays of the Spratly Islands. Starting with their formation in Late Cretaceous, fine-grained organic-rich marine sediments accumulated within the numerous submarine half-grabens that underlie sea bottom within the Dangerous Ground region.<ref name="Hutchison2010a" /><ref name="Wei2011a" /><ref name="Zhen2013a" />

The geological surveys show localised areas within the Spratly Islands region are favourable for the accumulation of economic oil and gas reserves.<ref name="Owen2012a">Owen, N. A. and C. H. Schofield, 2012, Disputed South China Sea hydrocarbons in perspective. Marine Policy. vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 809–822.</ref><ref name="BBC 2011-06-13">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They include thick sequences of Cenozoic sediments east of the Spratly Islands. Southeast and west of them, there also exist thick accumulations of sediments that possibly might contain economic oil and gas reserves, which lie closer to the Spratly Islands.<ref name="Owen2012a" /><ref name="Blanche1997a">Blanche, J. B. and J. D. Blanche, 1997, An Overview of the Hydrocarbon Potential of the Spratly Islands Archipelago and its Implications for Regional Development. in A. J. Fraser, S. J. Matthews, and R. W. Murphy, eds., pp. 293–310, Petroleum Geology of South East Asia. Special Publication no. 126, The Geological Society, Bath, England 436 pp.</ref>

Ecology

In some cays in the Spratly Islands, the sand and pebble sediments form the beaches and spits around the island. Under the influence of the dominant wind direction, which changes seasonally, these sediments move around the island to change the shape and size of the island. For example, Spratly Island is larger during the northeast monsoon (about Template:Convert), and smaller during the southwest monsoon (approximately Template:Convert).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Some islands may contain fresh groundwater fed by rain. Groundwater levels fluctuate during the day with the rhythm of the tides.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Phosphates from bird faeces (guano) are mainly concentrated in the beach rocks by the way of exchange-endosmosis. The principal minerals bearing phosphate are podolite, lewistonite and dehonite.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Coral reefs

Coral reefs are the predominant structures of these islands; the Spratly group contains over 600 coral reefs in total.<ref name="ECO">Template:WWF ecoregion</ref> In April 2015 The New York Times reported that China were using "scores of dredgers" to convert Fiery Cross Reef and several other reefs into military facilities.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Vegetation

Little vegetation grows on these islands, which are subject to intense monsoons. Larger islands are capable of supporting tropical forest, scrub forest, coastal scrub and grasses. It is difficult to determine which species have been introduced or cultivated by humans. Taiping Island (Itu Aba) was reportedly covered with shrubs, coconut, and mangroves in 1938; pineapple was also cultivated there when it was profitable. Other accounts mention papaya, banana, palm, and even white peach trees growing on one island. A few islands that have been developed as small tourist resorts had soil and trees brought in and planted where there was none.<ref name="ECO" />

Wildlife

A total of 2,927 marine species have been recorded in the Spratly Sea, including 776 benthic species, 382 species of hard coral, 524 species of marine fish, 262 species of algae and sea grass, 35 species of seabirds, and 20 species of marine mammals and sea turtles.<ref name="researchgate1">Template:Cite book</ref> Terrestrial vegetation in the islands includes 103 species of vascular plants of magnolia branches (Magnoliophyta) of 39 families and 79 genera.<ref name="researchgate1" /> The islands that do have vegetation provide important habitats for many seabirds and sea turtles.<ref name="ECO" /> Both the green turtle (Chelonia mydas, endangered) and the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata, critically endangered) formerly occurred in numbers sufficient to support commercial exploitation. These species reportedly continue to nest even on islands inhabited by military personnel (such as Pratas) to some extent, though it is believed that their numbers have declined.<ref name="ECO" />

Seabirds use the islands as resting, breeding, and wintering sites. Species found here include streaked shearwater (Calonectris leucomelas), brown booby (Sula leucogaster), red-footed booby (S. sula), great crested tern (Sterna bergii), and white tern (Gygis alba). Little information is available regarding the current status of the islands' seabird populations, though it is likely that birds may divert nesting sites to smaller, less disturbed islands. Bird eggs cover the majority of Southwest Cay, a small island in the eastern Danger Zone.<ref name="ECO" /> A variety of cetaceans such as dolphins,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> orcas, pilot whales, and sperm whales are also present around the islands.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>opheliaH. 2017. 2017、5月南沙最新航拍更新】出海偶遇鲸鱼&海警船和我们的船相伴航行全记录游记来蚂蜂窝,更多南沙群岛旅游攻略最新游记 Template:Webarchive. Retrieved on September 25, 2017</ref>

This ecoregion is still largely a mystery. Scientists have focused their research on the marine environment, while the ecology of the terrestrial environment remains relatively unknown.<ref name="ECO" />

Ecological hazards

Political instability, tourism, and the increasing industrialisation of neighbouring countries has led to serious disruption of native flora and fauna, over-exploitation of natural resources, and environmental pollution. Disruption of nesting areas by human activity and/or by introduced animals, such as dogs, has reduced the number of turtles nesting on the islands. Sea turtles are also slaughtered for food on a significant scale. The sea turtle is a symbol of longevity in Chinese culture and at times the military personnel are given orders to protect the turtles.<ref name="ECO" />

Heavy commercial fishing in the region incurs other problems. Although it has been outlawed, fishing methods continue to include the use of bottom trawlers fitted with chain rollers. In 1994, a routine patrol by Taiwan's marine navy confiscated more than Template:Cvt of potassium cyanide solution from fishermen who had been using it for cyanide fishing. These activities have a devastating impact on local marine organisms and coral reefs.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Some interest has been taken in regard to conservation of these island ecosystems. J.W. McManus, professor of marine biology and ecology at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science School, has explored the possibilities of designating portions of the Spratly Islands as a marine park. One region of the Spratly Archipelago, named Truong Sa, was proposed by Vietnam's Ministry of Science, Technology, and the Environment (MOSTE) as a future protected area. The site, with an area of Template:Convert, is currently managed by the Khánh Hòa Provincial People's Committee of Vietnam.<ref name="ECO" />

Military groups in the Spratly Islands have engaged in environmentally damaging activities such as shooting turtles and seabirds, raiding nests and fishing with explosives. The collection of rare medicinal plants, collecting of wood, and hunting for the wildlife trade are common threats to the biodiversity of the entire region, including these islands. Coral habitats are threatened by pollution, over-exploitation of fish and invertebrates, and the use of explosives and poisons as fishing techniques.<ref name="ECO" />

A 2014 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report said: "Sand is rarer than one thinks".<ref name="UNEP201403">Template:Cite web</ref>

The average price of sand imported by Singapore was US$3 per tonne from 1995 to 2001, but the price increased to US$190 per tonne from 2003 to 2005.<ref name="UNEP201403" /> Although the Philippines and China had both ratified the UNCLOS III, in the case of and Johnson South Reef, Hughes Reef, Mischief Reef, the PRC dredged sand for free in the EEZ the Philippines<ref name="philstarDiola2014" /> had claimed from 1978<ref name="PD1599">Template:Cite web</ref> arguing this is the "waters of China's Nansha Islands".

Although the consequences of substrate mining are hidden, they are tremendous.<ref name="UNEP201403" /> Aggregate particles that are too fine to be used are rejected by dredging boats, releasing vast dust plumes and changing water turbidity.<ref name="UNEP201403" />

John McManus, a professor of marine biology and ecology at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, said, "The worst thing anyone can do to a coral reef is to bury it under tons of sand and gravel ... There are global security concerns associated with the damage. It is likely broad enough to reduce fish stocks in the world's most fish-dependent region." He explained that the reason the world has heard little about the damage inflicted by the People's Republic of China to the reefs is that the experts can't get to them and noted "I have colleagues from the Philippines, Taiwan, PRC, Vietnam and Malaysia who have worked in the Spratly area. Most would not be able to get near the artificial islands except possibly some from PRC, and those would not be able to release their findings."<ref name="Breakingdefense 2015-11-18">Template:Cite web</ref>

History

Evidence of human presence in the region extends back nearly 50,000 years at Tabon Caves on Palawan. Therefore, it is difficult to say when humans first came upon this island group. Within historical times, several groups may have passed through or occupied the islands. Between 600 BC to 3 BC there was an east to west migration by members of the seafaring Sa Huỳnh culture. This may have led them through the Spratly Islands on their way to Vietnam. These migrants were the forebears of the Cham people, an Austronesian-speaking people that founded the Old Champa empire that ruled what was known for centuries as the Champa Sea.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="NatGeo 2015-06-18">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Early records and cartography

In the Song Dynasty work Zhu fan zhi by Zhao Rugua, the name "Thousand Li Stretch of Sands" (Qianli Changsha, Template:Lang) and the "Ten-Thousand Li of Stone Pools/Beds" (Wanli Shitang Template:Lang, or Wanli Shichuang Template:Lang) were given, interpreted by some to refer to Paracel and Spratly respectively.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Wanli Shitang is also recorded in the History of Yuan to have been explored by the Chinese during the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty and may have been considered by them to have been within their national boundaries.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Yuan Dynasty Territorial Map">History of Yuan geographical records: Yuan Dynasty Territorial Map (元代疆域图叙)</ref> However, the Yuan also ruled over Korea, Outer Mongolia, and parts of modern Russia. They are also referenced, sometimes with different names, in the Ming dynasty.<ref name="Hainan Commandery Comprehensive Public Memorial Records">Template:Citation</ref><ref name="miscrec">Miscellaneous Records of the South Sea Defensive Command 《海南卫指挥佥事柴公墓志》</ref> For example, in the Mao Kun map dating from Zheng He's voyage of the early 15th century, Shixing Shitang (Template:Lang) is taken by some to mean Spratly,<ref name="security">Template:Cite book</ref> however different authors interpret the identities of these islands differently.<ref name="mills" /> Another Ming text, Haiyu (海語, On the Sea), uses Wanli Changsha (Template:Lang) for Spratly and noted that it is located southeast of Wanli Shitang (Paracels).<ref name="security" /> When the Ming Dynasty collapsed, the Qing dynasty continued to include the territory in maps compiled in 1724,<ref>Qing dynasty provincial map from tianxia world map 《清直省分图》之《天下总舆图》</ref> 1755,<ref>Qing dynasty circuit and province map from Tianxia world map 《皇清各直省分图》之《天下总舆图》</ref> 1767,<ref>Great Qing of 10,000-years Tianxia map 《大清万年一统天下全图》</ref> 1810,<ref> Great Qing of 10,000-years general map of all territory 《大清万年一统地量全图》</ref> and 1817,<ref name="Great Qing tianxia overview map">Great Qing tianxia overview map 《大清一统天下全图》</ref> but did not officially claim jurisdiction over these islands.

An early European map, A correct chart of the China Seas of 1758 by William Herbert, left the Spratly Islands region (known then as the Dangerous Ground) as largely blank, indicating that region has yet to be properly surveyed, although some islands and shoals at its western edge were marked (one appears at the same place as Thitu Island).<ref name="hancox">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A number of maps of the South China Sea were later produced, but the first map that gives a reasonably accurate delineation of the Spratly Islands region (titled [South] China Sea, Sheet 1) was only published in 1821 by the hydrographer of the East India Company James Horsburgh after a survey by Captain Daniel Ross. A later 1859 edition of the map named the Spratly Island as Storm Island.<ref name="hancox" /> The islands were sporadically visited throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries by mariners from different European powers (including Richard Spratly, after whom the island group derives its most recognisable English name, who visited the group in the 1840s in his whaler Cyrus).<ref>MARITIME BRIEFING, Volume I, Number 6: A Geographical Description of the Spratly Island and an Account of Hydrographic Surveys Amongst Those Islands, 1995 by David Hancox and Victor Prescott. Pages 14–15</ref> However, these nations showed little interest in the islands. In 1883, German boats surveyed the Spratly and the Paracel Islands but eventually withdrew the survey, after receiving protests from the Guangdong government representing the Qing dynasty. China sent naval forces on inspection tours in 1902 and 1907 and placed flags and markers on the islands.<ref name="Severino2011">Template:Cite book</ref>

A Vietnamese map from 1834 also combines the Spratly and Paracel Islands into one region known as "Vạn Lý Trường Sa", a feature commonly incorporated into maps of the era (Template:Script) ‒ that is, the same as the aforementioned Chinese island name Wanli Changsha.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to Hanoi, Vietnamese maps record Bãi Cát Vàng (Golden Sandbanks, referring to both the Spratly and Paracel Islands), which lay near the coast of the central Vietnam, as early as 1838.<ref name="KING" /> In Phủ Biên Tạp Lục (The Frontier Chronicles) by scholar Lê Quý Đôn, both Hoàng Sa and Trường Sa were defined as belonging to the Quảng Ngãi District. He described it as where sea products and shipwrecked cargoes were available to be collected. Vietnamese text written in the 17th century referenced government-sponsored economic activities during the Lê dynasty, 200 years earlier. The Vietnamese government conducted several geographical surveys of the islands in the 18th century.<ref name="KING" /> Despite the fact that China and Vietnam both made a claim to these territories simultaneously, at the time, neither side was aware that its neighbour had already charted and made claims to the same stretch of islands.<ref name="KING">Template:Wikicite</ref>

In 1888 the Central Borneo Company were granted a lease to work guano "on Sprattly island and Amboyna Cay".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> During the Second World War troops from French Indochina and Japan were in occupation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1956 Filipino adventurer Tomás Cloma Sr. decided to "claim" a part of Spratly islands as his own, naming it the "Free Territory of Freedomland".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In the 1950s, a group of individuals claimed sovereignty over the islands in the name of Morton F. Meads, supposedly an American descendant of a British naval captain who gave his name to Meads Island (Itu Aba) in the 1870s. In an affidavit made in 1971, the group claimed to represent the Kingdom of Humanity/Republic of Morac-Songhrati-Meads,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which they asserted was in turn the successor entity for a supposed Kingdom of Humanity established between the two world wars on Meads Island, allegedly by the son of the British captain. This claim to this would-be micronation fell dormant after 1972, when several members of the group drowned in a typhoon.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="fowler">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="latimes">Template:Cite news</ref>

• In the Mao Kun map, Spratly Islands are suggested to be the islands at the bottom right (Template:Zh).<ref name="security" /> Others however believe they referred to the Paracel Islands or Macclesfield Bank.<ref name="mills">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  In the Mao Kun map, Spratly Islands are suggested to be the islands at the bottom right (Template:Zh).<ref name="security" /> Others however believe they referred to the Paracel Islands or Macclesfield Bank.<ref name="mills">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• The Velarde map shows Galit, Pancot, and Lumbay, which the Philippines identifies as the Scarborough Shoal and islands off of Palawan. It was used in the South China Sea Arbitration.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  The Velarde map shows Galit, Pancot, and Lumbay, which the Philippines identifies as the Scarborough Shoal and islands off of Palawan. It was used in the South China Sea Arbitration.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The Spratlys labeled as "Los Bajos de Paragua" off the coast of Palawan (Paragua) on the Velarde map
  The Spratlys labeled as "Los Bajos de Paragua" off the coast of Palawan (Paragua) on the Velarde map
• An 1801 Cary Map of the East Indies and Southeast Asia showing Panacot, the Scarborough Shoal, Amphitrite, the Paracels, and what is now known as the Spratlys
  An 1801 Cary Map of the East Indies and Southeast Asia showing Panacot, the Scarborough Shoal, Amphitrite, the Paracels, and what is now known as the Spratlys
• An 1838 Unified Dai Nam map marking Trường Sa and Hoàng Sa, which are considered as Spratly and Paracel Islands by some Vietnamese scholars
  An 1838 Unified Dai Nam map marking Trường Sa and Hoàng Sa, which are considered as Spratly and Paracel Islands by some Vietnamese scholars
• A British chart of the sea in northern Borneo, first issued in 1881 and corrected in 1935
  A British chart of the sea in northern Borneo, first issued in 1881 and corrected in 1935

Military conflicts and diplomatic dialogues

The following are political divisions for the Spratly Islands claimed by various area nations (in alphabetical order):

• Brunei: Part of Brunei's Exclusive Economic Zone<ref name="Brunei">Borneo Post: When All Else Fails(archived from the original on 28 February 2008) Additionally, pages 48 and 51 of "The Brunei-Malaysia Dispute over Territorial and Maritime Claims in International Law" by R. Haller-Trost, Clive Schofield, and Martin Pratt, published by the International Boundaries Research Unit Template:Webarchive, University of Durham, UK, points out that this is, in fact, a "territorial dispute" between Brunei and other claimants over the ownership of one above-water feature (Louisa Reef)</ref>
• China: Part of Sansha, Hainan<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Malaysia: Part of Sabah state
• Philippines: Part of Kalayaan, Palawan province
• Taiwan: Part of Kaohsiung municipality
• Vietnam: Part of Trường Sa, Khánh Hòa Province

Conflicts in the 19th century

In the 19th century, Europeans found that Chinese fishermen from Hainan annually sojourned on the Spratly islands for part of the year, while in 1877 it was the British who launched the first modern legal claims to the Spratly Islands.<ref name="Kivimaki2002">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Taylor & Francis">Template:Cite book</ref>

Some Chinese scholars and officials argue that the 1887 Sino-French Tonkin Boundary convention<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> signed after the Sino-French War recognised the sovereignty of China over the Paracel and Spratly islands.<ref name="Wortzel" /> The line mentioned in the convention can be more accurately described as a shorthand for dividing islands between China and Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin, but not its maritime waters. In the 1950s amid warming ties between the two countries, Mao Zedong decided to hand over Bạch Long Vĩ Island, which lies to the west of the dividing line and had Chinese inhabitants, to Vietnam. In 1933 and 1937 France sent diplomatic notes to China maintaining that the 1887 treaty determined the ownership of islands near the Móng Cái area only not anywhere beyond that.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also try to claim that a 1883 incident involving a German ship conducting surveys in the South China Sea without China's consent was protested with Berlin and the Germans terminated the survey.<ref name="Severino2011" /> Western scholars have determined, however, that this incident is not based on verifiable references and is inconsistent with other Chinese inaction during the same time period given that, in 1885, the German Admiralty published a two‐sheet chart entitled Die Paracel‐Inseln (The Paracel Islands). The chart documented the work of a German expedition to the Paracels between 1881 and 1884.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Conflicts in the 20th century until 1945

China sent naval forces on inspection tours in 1902 and 1907 and placed flags and markers on the islands. The Qing dynasty's successor state, the Republic of China, claimed the Spratly and Paracel islands under the jurisdiction of Hainan.<ref name="Severino2011" />

In 1933, France asserted its claims to the Spratly and Paracel IslandsTemplate:Citation needed on behalf of its then-colony French Indochina.<ref name="encarta">Spratly Islands Template:WebarchiveTemplate:Full citation needed, Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2008 Template:Webarchive. All Rights Reserved.</ref> It occupied a number of the Spratly Islands, including Taiping Island, built weather stations on two of the islands, and administered them as part of French Indochina.Template:Failed verification This occupation was protested by the Republic of China (ROC) government because France admitted finding Chinese fishermen there when French warships visited nine of the islands.<ref>Todd C. Kelly, Vietnamese Claims to the Truong Sa Archipelago, Explorations in Southeast Asian Studies, Vol.3, Fall 1999. Template:Webarchive</ref> In 1935, the ROC government also announced a sovereignty claim on the Spratly Islands. Japan occupied some of the islands in 1939 during World War II, and it used the islands as a submarine base for the occupation of Southeast Asia. During the Japanese occupation, these islands were called Shinnan Shoto (Template:Lang), literally the New Southern Islands, and together with the Paracel Islands (Template:Lang), they were put under the governance of the Japanese authority in Taiwan on 30 March 1939.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Japan occupied the Paracels and the Spratly Islands from February 1939 to August 1945.<ref name="king1979p43">Template:Harvnb</ref> Japan annexed the Spratly Islands via Taiwan's jurisdiction and the Paracels via Hainan's jurisdiction.<ref name="Kivimaki2002" /> Parts of the Paracels and Spratly Islands were again controlled by Republic of China after the 1945 surrender of Japan,<ref name="ed. Morley, Nishihara 1997">Template:Cite book</ref> since the Allied powers assigned the Republic of China to receive Japanese surrenders in that area,<ref name="Severino2011" /> however no successor was named to the islands.<ref name="ed. Morley, Nishihara 1997" />

Conflicts in the 20th century after World War II

Map of the South East China

China's (now ROC and PRC) nine-dash line illustrated in a 1947 map of the South China Sea

In November 1946, the ROC sent naval ships to take control of the islands after the surrender of Japan.<ref name="king1979p43" /> It had chosen the largest and perhaps the only inhabitable island, Taiping Island, as its base, and it renamed the island under the name of the naval vessel as Taiping. Also following the defeat of Japan at the end of World War II, the ROC re-claimed the entirety of the Spratly Islands (including Taiping Island) after accepting the Japanese surrender of the islands based on the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations. The Republic of China then garrisoned Itu Aba (Taiping) island in 1946 and posted Chinese flags.<ref name="Kivimaki2002" /> The aim of the Republic of China was to block the French claims.<ref name="Severino2011" /><ref name="The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The Republic of China drew up the map showing the U-shaped claim on the entire South China Sea, showing the Spratly and Paracels in Chinese territory, in 1947.<ref name="Severino2011" /> Japan had renounced all claims to the islands in the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty together with the Paracels, Pratas and other islands captured from the Chinese, and upon these declarations, the government of the Republic of China reasserted its claim to the islands. At the peace conference, South Vietnam declared Vietnamese sovereignty over the Spratlys, but North Vietnam supported China's authority.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Chinese Kuomintang force withdrew from most of the Spratly and Paracel Islands after they retreated to Taiwan from the opposing Chinese Communist Party due to their losses in the Chinese Civil War and the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949.<ref name="encarta" /> Taiwan quietly withdrew troops from Taiping Island in 1950, but then reinstated them in 1956 in response to Tomás Cloma's sudden claim to the island as part of Freedomland.<ref>Kivimäki, Timo (2002), War Or Peace in the South China Sea?, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS), Template:ISBN</ref> Template:As of, Taiping Island is administered by Taiwan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

After pulling out its garrison in 1950 when the Republic of China evacuated to Taiwan, when the Filipino Tomas Cloma uprooted an ROC flag on Itu Aba laid claim to the Spratly Islands and, Taiwan again regarrisoned Itu Aba in 1956.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> In 1946, the Americans allegedly reminded the Philippines at its independence that the Spratly Islands were not Philippine territory, both to not anger Chiang Kai-shek in China and because the Spratly Islands were not part of the Philippines per the 1898 treaty Spain signed with the United States.<ref name="Kivimaki2002" /> However, no document was found to that effect. The Philippines then claimed the Spratly Islands in 1971 under President Marcos, after Taiwanese troops attacked and shot at a Philippine fishing boat on Itu Aba.<ref name="Pak2000">Template:Cite book</ref>

Taiwan's garrison from 1946 to 1950 and 1956-now on Itu Aba represents an "effective occupation" of the Spratly Islands.<ref name="Pak2000" /><ref name="Lin2008">Template:Cite news</ref> China established a coastal defence system against Japanese pirates or smugglers.<ref name="Pak2000p81">Template:Harvnb</ref>

File:Bia VNCH Truong Sa - Republic of Vietnam Spratly Islands Territorial Marker.JPG

Territorial monument of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) on Southwest Cay, Spratly Islands, defining the cay as part of Vietnamese territory (Phước Tuy Province). Used from 22 August 1956 until 1975, when replaced by another one from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (successor state after the Fall of Saigon)

In 1958, China issued a declaration defining its territorial waters that encompassed the Spratly Islands. North Vietnam's prime minister, Phạm Văn Đồng, sent a formal note to Zhou Enlai, stating that the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) respected the Chinese decision regarding the Template:Convert limit of territorial waters.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> While accepting the 12-nmi principal with respect to territorial waters, the letter did not actually address the issue of defining actual territorial boundaries. North Vietnam recognised China's claims on the Paracels and Spratly Islands during the Vietnam War as it was being supported by China. Only after winning the war and conquering South Vietnam did North Vietnam retract its recognition and admitted it recognised them as part of China to receive aid from China in fighting the Americans.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1987, China installed a small military structure on Fiery Cross Reef under the pretext of building an oceanic observation station and installing a tide gauge for the Global Sea Level Observing System.<ref>Chanda, Nayan. "Treacherous Shoals." Far Eastern Economic Review. 13 August 1992: p14-17</ref>Template:Verify source After a deadly skirmish with the Vietnamese Navy, China installed some military structures on more reefs in the vicinity of the Philippines and Vietnamese occupied islands and this led to escalating tensions between these countries and China over the status and ownership of reefs.

In 1988, the Vietnamese and Chinese navies engaged in a skirmish in the area of Johnson South Reef (also called Gạc Ma Reef in Vietnam and Yongshu Reef in China).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Under President Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan stated that "legally, historically, geographically, or in reality", all of the South China Sea and Spratly islands were Taiwan's territory and under Taiwanese sovereignty, and denounced actions undertaken there by Malaysia and the Philippines, in a statement on 13 July 1999 released by the foreign ministry of Taiwan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Taiwan and China's claims "mirror" each other; during international talks involving the Spratly islands, China and Taiwan have cooperated with each other since both have the same claims.<ref name="Pak2000" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

It was unclear whether France continued its claim to the islands after World War II, since none of the islands, other than Taiping Island, was habitable. The South Vietnamese government took over the Trường Sa administration after the defeat of the French at the end of the First Indochina War. "The French bestowed its titles, rights, and claims over the two island chains to the Republic of Vietnam (RoV) in accordance with the Geneva Accords", said Nguyen Hong Thao, Associate Professor at Faculty of Law, Vietnam National University.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In 1999, a Philippine navy ship (Number 57 – BRP Sierra Madre) was purposely run aground near Second Thomas Shoal to enable establishment of an outpost. Template:As of it had not been removed, and Filipino marines have been stationed aboard since the grounding.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Conflicts in the 21st century

Taiwan and mainland China are largely strategically aligned on the Spratly islands issue, since they both claim exactly the same area, so Taiwan's control of Itu Aba (Taiping) island is viewed as an extension of China's claim.<ref name="Wortzel">Template:Cite book</ref> Taiwan and China both claim the entire island chain, while all the other claimants only claim portions of them. China has proposed co-operation with Taiwan against all the other countries claiming the islands. Taiwanese lawmakers have demanded that Taiwan fortify Itu Aba (Taiping) island with weapons to defend against the Vietnamese, and both China and Taiwanese NGOs have pressured Taiwan to expand Taiwan's military capabilities on the island, which played a role in Taiwan expanding the island's runway in 2012.<ref name="KastnerAug2012">Template:Cite news</ref> China has urged Taiwan to co-operate and offered Taiwan a share in oil and gas resources while shutting out all the other rival claimants. Taiwanese lawmakers have complained about repeated Vietnamese aggression and trespassing on Taiwan's Itu Aba (Taiping), and Taiwan has started viewing Vietnam as an enemy over the Spratly Islands, not China.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Taiwan's state run oil company CPC Corporation's board director Chiu Yi has called Vietnam as the "greatest threat" to Taiwan.<ref name="KastnerAug2012" /> Taiwan's airstrip on Taiping has irritated Vietnam.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> China views Taiwan's expansion of its military and airstrip on Taiping as benefiting China's position against the other rival claimants from southeast Asian countries.<ref name="Lin2008" /> China's claims to the Spratly Islands benefit from legal weight because of Taiwan's presence on Itu Aba, while America on the other hand has regularly ignored Taiwan's claims in the South China Sea and does not include Taiwan in any talks on dispute resolution for the area.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Taiwan performed live fire military exercises on Taiping island in September 2012; reports said that Vietnam was explicitly named by the Taiwanese military as the "imaginary enemy" in the drill. Vietnam protested against the exercises as violation of its territory and "voiced anger", demanding that Taiwan stop the drill. Among the inspectors of the live fire drill were Taiwanese national legislators, adding to the tensions.<ref>

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In May 2011, Chinese patrol boats attacked two Vietnamese oil exploration ships near the Spratly Islands.Template:Citation needed Also in May 2011, Chinese naval vessels opened fire on Vietnamese fishing vessels operating off East London Reef (Da Dong). The three Chinese military vessels were numbered 989, 27 and 28, and they showed up with a small group of Chinese fishing vessels. Another Vietnamese fishing vessel was fired on near Fiery Cross Reef (Chu Thap). The Chief Commander of Border Guards in Phú Yên Province, Vietnam, reported that a total of four Vietnamese vessels were fired upon by Chinese naval vessels.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Failed verification These incidents involving Chinese forces sparked mass protests in Vietnam, especially in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and in various Vietnamese communities in the West (namely in the US state of California and in Paris) over attacks on Vietnamese citizens and the intrusion into what Vietnam claimed was part of its territory.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In June 2011, the Philippines began officially referring to parts of the South China Sea as the "West Philippine Sea" and the Reed Bank as "Recto Bank".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In July 2012, the National Assembly of Vietnam passed a law demarcating Vietnamese sea borders to include the Spratly and Paracel Islands.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>China Criticizes Vietnam in Dispute Over Islands Template:Webarchive, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</ref>

In 2010, it was reported that the former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad believed Malaysia could profit from China's economic growth through co-operation with China,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and said that China "was not a threat to anyone and was not worried about aggression from China", as well accusing the United States of provoking China and trying to turn China's neighbours against China.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Malaysian authorities displayed no concern over China conducting a military exercise at James Shoal in March 2013,<ref name="philstarDiola2014">Template:Cite web</ref> with its Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein suggested they might work with China and saying that Malaysia had no problem with China patrolling the South China Sea, and telling ASEAN, America, and Japan that "Just because you have enemies, doesn't mean your enemies are my enemies".<ref>

• Template:Cite AV media
• Template:Cite web</ref> However, until present Malaysia still maintained a balance relations with the countries involved in this dispute.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> But since China has started encroaching its territorial waters,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Malaysia has become active in condemning China.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The editorial of the Taiwanese news website Want China Times accused America of being behind the May 2014 flareup in the South China Sea, saying that Vietnam rammed a Chinese vessel on 2 May over an oil rig drilling platform and the Philippines detained 11 Chinese fishermens occurred because of Obama's visit to the region and that they were incited by America "behind the scenes". Want China Times claimed America ordered Vietnam on 7 May to complain about the drilling platform, and noted that a joint military exercise was happening at this time between the Philippines and America, and also noted that the American New York Times newspaper supported Vietnam.<ref>Editorial Template:Webarchive, 13 May 2014, Want China Times</ref>

In a series of news stories on 16 April 2015, it was revealed, through photos taken by Airbus, that China had been building an airstrip on Fiery Cross Reef, one of the southern islands. The Template:Convert runway covers a significant portion of the island, and is viewed as a possible strategic threat to other countries with claims to the islands, such as Vietnam and the Philippines.

Champa historically had a large presence in the South China Sea. The Vietnamese broke Champa's power in an invasion of Champa in 1471, and then finally conquered the last remnants of the Cham people in an invasion in 1832. A Cham named Katip Suma who received Islamic education in Kelantan declared a Jihad against the Vietnamese, and fighting continued until the Vietnamese crushed the remnants of the resistance in 1835. The Cham organisation Front de Libération du Champa was part of the United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races, which waged war against the Vietnamese for independence in the Vietnam War along with the Montagnard and Khmer Krom minorities. The last remaining FULRO insurgents surrendered to the United Nations in 1992.

The Vietnamese government fears that evidence of Champa's influence over the disputed area in the South China Sea would bring attention to human rights violations and killings of ethnic minorities in Vietnam such as in the 2001 and 2004 uprisings, and lead to the issue of Cham autonomy being brought into the dispute, since the Vietnamese conquered the Hindu and Muslim Cham people in a war in 1832.<ref name="Bray">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Japanese scholar Taoka Shunji said in a journal article that the assumption amongst many Japanese people that the territory of the Philippines was being invaded by China, was incorrect. He pointed out that the Spratly islands were not part of the Philippines, when the US acquired the Philippines from Spain in the Treaty of Paris in 1898, and when the Japanese-ruled Taiwan itself had annexed the Spratly islands in 1938, the US-ruled Philippines did not challenge the move and never asserted that it was their territory. He also pointed out that other countries did not need to do full land reclamation since they already control islands, and that the reason China engaged in extensive land reclamation is because they needed it to build airfields since China only has control over reefs.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The "Moro" as "people", is used to describe both the Filipino Muslims and their homeland. Ancestors of Moro people were the owners of Spratly Islands prior to the arrival of the Spanish colonials in the 16th century, according to the Sultan of Sulu in the southern Philippines reported in a local paper. "China has no right over the Spratly Islands in what it calls the South China Sea because that is part of our ancestral domain," Majaraj Julmuner Jannaral, Sultanate information officer, told the Philippine Star. "The Spratly Archipelago is part of the Sulu Sea (the inner area around the islands in the southern Philippines, which is part of the West Philippine Sea (designation of parts of the South China Sea claimed by the Philippines to be part of its EEZ)," Jannaral concluded. "Exploration of the marine territory and the waters around the Spratly Archipelago, Palawan in southwestern Philippines and the southern Philippines, belong to the residents in those areas," he added. The Sultanate of Sulu claims historic proprietary rights over the Spratly Islands since before the Spanish colonial era.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Various incidents of fishing boats being harassed by Chinese warships have occurred.<ref name="Archived copy">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At least 2 vessels were rammed or sunk. One was a Vietnamese ship attacked by a Chinese coastguard vessel, and another was a Filipino ship rammed and sunk by a Chinese fishing boat who let the Filipino fishermen drift at sea without giving aid. The stranded fishermen were later rescued by a Vietnamese ship.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2017, the United States despite not being a claimant in the Spratly dispute, reported using freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) to challenge what it deemed as excessive and illegal maritime claims from multiple Asia-Pacific states including Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Vietnam.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2022, Vietnam demanded that Taiwan cease conducting live fire exercises at the Spratly Islands.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

2016 arbitration

In January 2013, the Philippines initiated arbitration proceedings against China under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) across a range of issues, including the latter's historic rights claims over parts or all of the Spratly Islands inside the nine-dash line.<ref name="pressrelease">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> A tribunal of arbitrators constituted under Annex VII of UNCLOS appointed the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) as registry to the proceedings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 12 July 2016, the arbitral tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines on most of its submissions. While it would not "rule on any question of sovereignty over land territory and would not delimit any maritime boundary between the Parties", it concluded that China had not historically exercised exclusive control within the nine-dash line, hence has "no legal basis" to claim "historic rights" to resources.<ref name="pressrelease" /> It also concluded that China's historic rights claims over the maritime areas (as opposed to land masses and territorial waters) inside the nine-dash line would have no lawful effect outside of what is entitled to under UNCLOS.<ref name="PCA Award">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:RefnTemplate:Refn It criticized China's land reclamation projects and construction of artificial islands in the Spratly Islands, saying that they had caused "severe harm to the coral reef environment".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Finally, it characterized Taiping Island and other features of the Spratly Islands as "rocks" under UNCLOS, and therefore are not entitled to a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The award was ruled as final and non-appealable by either country.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> China rejected the ruling, calling it "ill-founded".<ref name="BBC 2016">Template:Cite news</ref> Taiwan, which currently administers Taiping Island, the largest of the Spratly Islands, also rejected the ruling.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Template:As of, 26 governments support the ruling, 17 issued generally positive statements noting the ruling but not called for compliance, and eight rejected it.<ref name="AMTI2023">Template:Cite web</ref> The governments in support were Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States; the eight in opposition were China, Montenegro, Pakistan, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, and Vanuatu.<ref name="AMTI2023" /><ref>Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the EU on the Award rendered in the Arbitration between the Republic of the Philippines and the People's Republic of China (archived from the original on February 9, 2018)</ref> The United Nations itself does not have a position on the legal and procedural merits of the case or on the disputed claims, and the Secretary-General expressed his hope that the continued consultations on a Code of Conduct between ASEAN and China under the framework of the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea will lead to increased mutual understanding among all the parties.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Transportation and communication

Airports

Template:See also List of airports in the Spratly Islands

Telecommunications

In 2005, a cellular phone base station was erected by the Philippines' Smart Communications on Pag-asa Island.<ref>Kalayaan Islands of Palawan Province Template:Webarchive (video part 1 of 2), 14 November 2009</ref>

Vietnam Military Telecommunications Corp., known commonly as Viettel, established mobile coverage in the Spratly Islands in 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 18 May 2011, China Mobile announced that its mobile phone coverage has expanded to the Spratly Islands. The extended coverage would allow soldiers stationed on the islands, fishermen, and merchant vessels within the area to use mobile services, and can also provide assistance during storms and sea rescues. The service network deployment over the islands took nearly one year.<ref>Ian Mansfield, 18 May 2011, China Mobile Expands Coverage to the Spratly Islands Template:Webarchive, Cellular News</ref>

In 2013, Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom established a satellite-based cellular base station on Taiping Island.

Gallery

• An ancient Heliotropium foertherianum on Spratly Island
  An ancient Heliotropium foertherianum on Spratly Island
• Young Vietnamese residents of Spratly Island
  Young Vietnamese residents of Spratly Island
• A military cemetery for Vietnamese soldiers on Central London Reef
  A military cemetery for Vietnamese soldiers on Central London Reef
• A view from Amboyna Cay
  A view from Amboyna Cay
• The Pearson Reef dock under Vietnam's administration
  The Pearson Reef dock under Vietnam's administration

See also

• Coral triangle initiative
• Great Wall of Sand
• Johnson South Reef Skirmish
• Keying (ship)
• Kingdom of Humanity
• List of islands in the South China Sea
• List of maritime features in the Spratly Islands
• Natuna Regency
• Paracel Islands
• Philippines and the Spratly Islands
• Philippine Coast Guard
• South China Sea
• South China Sea Islands
• Spratly Islands dispute
• SSN, a computer game set during a conflict over the Spratly Islands
• Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
• Territories claimed by the Philippines
• Tomás Cloma and the Free Territory of Freedomland

References

Further reading

• Bonnet, François-Xavier (2012) Geopolitics of Scarborough Shoal, Irasec, 14.
• Bouchat, Clarence J. (2013) Dangerous Ground: The Spratly Islands and U.S. Interests and Approaches, Strategic Studies Institute and US Army War College Press, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
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• Dzurek, Daniel J. and Clive H.Schofield. (1996) The Spratly Islands dispute: who's on first?. IBRU. Template:ISBN
• Hogan, C. Michael (2011) "South China Sea", Encyclopedia of Earth, National Council for Science and the Environment, Washington, D.C..
• Menon, Rajan (11 September 2012) "Worry about Asia, Not Europe", The National Interest, Issue: Sept–Oct 2012.

External links

• Template:Wikiatlas