The followings are some facts on the South China Sea, the maritime rules governing its waters, and major players embroiled in disputes within it–
Geography
The South China Sea covers an area of more than 1.7m sq-km, containing more than 200 mostly uninhabitable small islands, rocks and reefs. It borders China and Taiwan to the north, Vietnam to the west, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and Singapore to the south and southwest, and the Philippines to the east.
Strategic importance
The shortest route between the Pacific and Indian oceans, it has some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Over half the globe’s oil tanker traffic passes through it. Most shipping is of raw materials, such as crude oil from the Gulf to East Asian countries. The sea holds valuable fishing grounds, and as-yet largely unexploited oil and natural gas fields.
Disputes
Six parties are involved in a complex set of historically based territorial disputes in the sea – Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. China’s claims, the broadest, cover all of the Spratly and Paracel islands and most of the South China Sea. China’s military occupies all of the Paracel Islands, and some nine reefs in the Spratly Islands, including Johnson South Reef, Hughes Reef and Subi Reef. Vietnam occupies dozens of Spratly atolls and reefs and has military bases on several more. Taiwan holds Itu Aba island and Ban Than Reef in the Spratlys. Its former president Chen Shui-bian visited Itu Aba in 2008, with a naval flotilla. Taiwan has built an airport there. Malaysia has built an air strip and diving resort on Layang Layang, also known as Swallow’s Reef. The Malaysian navy maintains a base here too. The other atolls it occupies are Ardasier Reef, Marivales Reef, Erica Reef and Investigator Shoal. The Philippines occupies several Spratly islands, most significantly Thitu island, which it renamed Pagasa (Hope). Brunei occupies none of the islands.
International law
The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) allows coastal states to establish sovereignty over two areas: 1. Territorial seas – adjacent waters spanning a maximum of 12 nautical-miles from their coastlines, including the coastline of offshore islands, and 2. Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) – extending 200 nautical miles from the coast. UNCLOS says overlapping claims should be resolved through ad hoc arbitration or submission to international courts.