Maps
South China Sea
- 17 Oct 2022
- 2 min read
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Key Points
- Physical Geography:
- An arm of the western Pacific Ocean that borders the Southeast Asian mainland.
- Bordered by Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
- It is connected by the Taiwan Strait with the East China Sea and by the Luzon Strait with the Philippine Sea (both marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean).
- Comprise three archipelagoes, namely, the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, Pratas Islands and Macclesfield’s Bank and Scarborough Shoal.
- Dispute:
- China’s Nine Dash Line: Defines area claimed by China - by far the largest portion of the Sea.
- Scarborough Shoal: Claimed both by the Philippines and China (known as Huangyan Island in China).
- Spratlys: Occupied by claimants, which consist of Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, China and Malaysia.
- Paracel Islands: Subject of overlapping claims by China, Vietnam and Taiwan.
- Island Chain Strategy: A geographical security concept crafted by the United States in the 1940s to deter China and the Soviet Union’s maritime ambitions.
- Recent Related Events:
