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South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luzon, Mindoro and Palawan), and in the south by the Indonesian islands of Borneo, eastern Sumatra and the Bangka Belitung Islands, encompassing an area of around 3,500,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi). It communicates with the East China Sea via the Taiwan Strait, the Philippine Sea via the Luzon Strait, the Sulu Sea via the straits around Palawan, and the Java Sea via the Karimata and Bangka Straits. The Gulf of Thailand and the Gulf of Tonkin are part of the South China Sea.

South China Sea

East Asia and Southeast Asia

12°N 113°E / 12°N 113°E / 12; 113

Sea

Pacific Ocean

List

3,500,000 square kilometres (1,400,000 sq mi)

List of islands in South China Sea

Manila Trench

Major cities

$3.4 trillion of the world's $16 trillion maritime shipping passed through South China Sea in 2016. Oil and natural gas reserves have been found in the area. The Western Central Pacific accounted for 14% of world's commercial fishing in 2010.


The South China Sea Islands, collectively comprising several archipelago clusters of mostly small uninhabited islands, islets (cays and shoals), reefs/atolls and seamounts numbering in the hundreds, are subject to competing claims of sovereignty by several countries. These claims are also reflected in the variety of names used for the islands and the sea.

South China Sea

南海

Nán Hǎi

South Sea

Nán Hǎi

Nán Hǎi

ㄋㄢˊ ㄏㄞˇ

Nan2 Hai3

[nǎn xàɪ]

noe平 he上

nam11 hoi31

naam4 hoi2

lâm-hái

nâm-hái

南中国海

南中國海

Nán Zhōngguó Hǎi

South China Sea

Nán Zhōngguó Hǎi

Nán Zhōngguó Hǎi

ㄋㄢˊ ㄓㄨㄥ ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄏㄞˇ

Nan2 Chung1-kuo2 Hai3

[nǎn ʈʂʊ́ŋkwǒ xàɪ]

noe平 tson平 koh入 he上

nam11 dung24 gued2 hoi31

naam4 zung1 gwok3 hoi2

lâm tiong-kok hái

nâm tieng-kuōk hái

Biển Đông

𣷷東

East Sea

ทะเลจีนใต้
[tʰā.lēː t͡ɕīːn tâ(ː)j]
(South China Sea)

Thale Chin Tai

南支那海 or 南シナ海 (literally "South Shina Sea")

みなみシナかい

Minami Shina Kai

Minami Shina Kai

Laut Cina Selatan (لاءوت چينا سلاتن‎)
(South China Sea)
Laut Nusantara (لاءوت نوسنتارا‎)
(Nusantara Sea)
Laut Campa (لاءوت چمڤا‎)
(Champa Sea)

Laut Cina Selatan /
Laut Tiongkok Selatan
(South China Sea)
Laut Natuna Utara
(North Natuna Sea; Indonesian official government use; Claimed Indonesian EEZ only)[1]

Dagat Timog Tsina
(South China Sea)
Dagat Luzon
(Luzon Sea)

Mar da China Meridional
(South China Sea)

Tasi Sul Xina

The

Spratly Islands

The

Paracel Islands

and the Vereker Banks

Pratas Island

The

Macclesfield Bank

The

Scarborough Shoal

The South China Sea contains over 250 small islands, atolls, cays, shoals, reefs, and sandbars, most of which have no indigenous people, many of which are naturally under water at high tide, and some of which are permanently submerged. The features are:


The Spratly Islands spread over an 810 by 900 km area covering some 175 identified insular features, the largest being Taiping Island (Itu Aba) at just over 1.3 kilometres (0.81 mi) long and with its highest elevation at 3.8 metres (12 ft).


The largest singular feature in the area of the Spratly Islands is a 100 kilometres (62 mi) wide seamount called Reed Tablemount, also known as Reed Bank, in the northeast of the group, separated from Palawan Island of the Philippines by the Palawan Trench. Now completely submerged, with a depth of 20 metres (66 ft), it was an island until it was covered about 7,000 years ago by increasing sea levels after the last ice age. With an area of 8,866 square kilometres (3,423 sq mi), it is one of the largest submerged atoll structures in the world.

Natural resources

In 2012–2013, the United States Energy Information Administration estimates very little oil and natural gas in contested areas such as the Paracel and the Spratly Islands. Most of the proved or probable 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the South China Sea exist near undisputed shorelines.[27][28]


In 2010, the Western Central Pacific (excluding the northernmost reaches of the South China Sea closest to the PRC coast) accounted for 14% of the total world catch from commercial fishing of 11.7 million tonnes. This was up from less than 4 million tonnes in 1970.[29]


China announced in May 2017 a breakthrough for mining methane clathrates, when they extracted methane from hydrates in the South China Sea, but commercial adoption may take a decade or more.[30][31]

Indonesia, Vietnam, China, and Taiwan over waters northeast of the Natuna Islands

[32]

The Philippines, China, and Taiwan over .

Scarborough Shoal

Vietnam, China, and Taiwan over waters west of the . Some or all of the islands themselves are also disputed between Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Spratly Islands

The are disputed between China, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Paracel Islands

Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam over areas in the .

Gulf of Thailand

Singapore and Malaysia along the and the Strait of Singapore.

Strait of Johore

List of maritime features in the Spratly Islands

Beckman, Robert; et al., eds. (2013). Beyond Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea: Legal Frameworks for the Joint Development of Hydrocarbon Resources. Edward Elgar.  978-1-78195-593-2.

ISBN

Francois-Xavier Bonnet, , Irasec Discussion Paper 14, November 2012

Geopolitics of Scarborough Shoal

C. Michael Hogan (2011)

South China Sea Topic ed. P. Saundry. Ed.-in-chief C.J. Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC

Clive Schofield et al., (July 2011)

From Disputed Waters to Seas of Opportunity: Overcoming Barriers to Maritime Cooperation in East and Southeast Asia

UNEP (2007). . UNEP/GEF/SCS Technical Publication No. 9.

Review of the Legal Aspects of Environmental Management in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand

Wang, Gungwu (2003). The Nanhai Trade: Early Chinese Trade in the South China Sea. Marshall Cavendish International.  9789812102416.

ISBN

Keyan Zou (2005). . London/New York: Rutledge Curzon. ISBN 0-415-35074-3

Law of the sea in East Asia: issues and prospects

United States. Congress. (2014).

Maritime Sovereignty in the East and South China Seas: Joint Hearing before the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces of the Committee on Armed Services Meeting Jointly with the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (Serial No. 113-137), House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session, Hearing held January 14, 2014

Q&A with Ian J. Storey (July 2012)

ASEAN and the South China Sea: Deepening Divisions

June 2011 Q&A with Ian J. Storey

Rising Tensions in the South China Sea

on China Digital Times

News collections on The South China Sea

– featured on Google Earth's Official Blog

The South China Sea on Google Earth

– online resource for students, scholars and policy-makers interested in South China Sea regional development, environment, and security issues.

South China Sea Virtual Library

Energy Information Administration – The South China Sea

Tropical Research and Conservation Centre – The South China Sea

Weekly Piracy Report

Reversing Environmental Degradation Trends in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand

UNEP/GEF South China Sea Knowledge Documents

Radio communication between United States Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon aircraft operating under international law and the Chinese Navy warnings.

Audio

A 1775 Chart of the China Sea | Southeast Asia Digital Library