"dynasty in China. In 1421, Zheng prepared the 6 edition Mao Kun map, usually referred to by Chinese people as Zheng He's Navigation Map (simplified Chinese: 郑和航海图; traditional Chinese: 鄭和航海圖; pinyin: Zhèng Hé hánghǎi tú), which included South China Sea Islands. The countries with the most extensive activity in the South China Sea Islands are China and Vietnam. In the 19th century, as a part of the occupation of Indochina, France claimed control of the Spratlys until the 1930s, exchanging a few with the British. During World War II, the South China Sea islands were all occupied by Japan. After"
"its official sovereignty claim to the disputed territories in the South China Sea. In addition to the People's Republic of China and Vietnam, the Republic of China (i.e. Taiwan), Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines also claim and occupy some islands. Taiwan claims all the Spratly Islands, but occupies only one island and one shelf including Taiping Island. Malaysia occupies three islands on its continental shelf. The Philippines claim most of the Spratlys and call them the Kalayaan Group of islands, and they form a distinct municipality in the province of Palawan. The Philippines, however, occupy only eight islands. Brunei claims"
"Spratly group. Both Malaysia and Vietnam are two of several countries asserting claims over the islands and waters of the area. Because of the uncertainty, no maritime border agreement exists for the area. Malaysia claims a portion of the South China Sea together with 11 islands and other marine features in the Spratly group on the basis that they are within its continental shelf. Brunei, China, the Philippines and Vietnam also have overlapping claims over the entire or a portion of the area claimed by Malaysia. Malaysia currently occupies one island - Swallow Reef or Pulau Layang-Layang - five reefs"
"over the Spratly Islands with China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei; and over the Paracel Islands, occupied by China, but claimed by Vietnam and by the ROC. The ROC government also claims the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands, which are called the Diaoyu Islands in Taiwan and China. The Republic of China recognizes all UN member states, with the exception of the PRC, the territory of which it regards as its own, and North Korea, as it recognizes the Republic of Korea as the representative of Korea. Of the two UN observer states, the ROC recognizes the Holy See, with"
"Spratly Islands The Spratly Islands ( , , , ) are a disputed group of islands, islets and cays and more than 100 reefs, sometimes grouped in submerged old atolls, in the South China Sea. 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 of naturally occurring land area spread over an area of more than . The Spratlys are one of the major archipelagos in the South China Sea which complicate governance and economics in"
"map dated as early as 1279 is the basis for the claim of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. They argue that the area was historically used by their fishermen. The Spratly Islands are a group of islands, reefs, and rocks located about 300 kilometers West of Aborlan, Palawan. The Philippines, along with the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Brunei expressed claims. The Philippines officially staked a claim to some of the islands during the United Nations convention, although it was first expressed in 1956, when Tomás Cloma, a Philippine"
"are claimed as territorial waters by multiple nations including China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines. On 23 January 2017, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said ""It's a question of if [the Spratly Islands] are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, we're going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country."" On 4 February, on a visit to Japan, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis reaffirmed Washington's commitment under the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan to defending Japan, including"
"deployment over the islands took nearly one year. Spratly Islands The Spratly Islands ( , , , ) are a disputed group of islands, islets and cays and more than 100 reefs, sometimes grouped in submerged old atolls, in the South China Sea. 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 of naturally occurring land area spread over an area of more than . The Spratlys are one of the major archipelagos in the South"
"Spratly Islands dispute The Spratly Islands dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute between China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, concerning ""ownership"" of the Spratly Islands, a group of islands and associated ""maritime features"" (reefs, banks, cays, etc.) located in the South China Sea. The dispute is characterised by diplomatic stalemate and the employment of military pressure techniques (such as military occupation of disputed territory) in the advancement of national territorial claims. All except Brunei occupy some of the maritime features. There has been a sharp rise in media coverage owing mainly to China's increasingly vocal objection to the presence"
"nations made full claims, and dozens more made preliminary submissions. Two of the submissions made to the CLCS addressed claims in the South China Sea (SCS) – one by Vietnam for a claim over the northern portion of the SCS (which included the Paracel Islands), and another jointly by Vietnam and Malaysia for a joint claim over a ""defined area"" in the middle of the SCS between the two countries, which included part of the Spratly Islands. Brunei made a preliminary submission notifying of its intention to claim a continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from its shores. China (PRC)"
"map showing the U shaped claim on the entire South China Sea, showing the Spratly and Paracels in Chinese territory. In 1947, the ROC government renamed 159 islands in the area and published the ""Map of the South China Sea Islands"". The ROC was the first government to establish a physical presence in the Spratly Islands. It has occupied Taiping Island, the largest island in the Spratlys, constantly since 1956. The Republic of China (ROC), which ruled mainland China before 1949, has been confined to Taiwan since 1949. The People's Liberation Army and the Republic of China Armed Forces are"
"the Philippines also have overlapping claims over the continental shelf and islands in the Spratly Islands area of the South China Sea. China/Taiwan and Vietnam also claim the entire Spratly Islands area as part of their territory and territorial waters while a small portion of the area of overlapping claim by Malaysia and the Philippines is also claimed by Brunei. Malaysia bases its claim on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea's rule. In 1979, it published a territorial sea and continental shelf map depicting its claim over the area. The Philippines claim results in the boundary"
"country. China is currently disputing the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea with the Philippines while the United States used to be an occupying power and currently has a mutual defense treaty with the islands. China was initially criticized for its meager contribution of US $100,000 to the typhoon victims, which led to commentary about its disputes with the Philippines. Earlier in 2013, the Philippines sued China over the nine-dotted line. Commentators attribute this low amount to China's intentions to isolate the Philippines while strengthening its ties with the rest of Southeast Asia. The move had mixed reactions from"
"its way up from the Malaysian to Filipino coast. Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia all have competing claims to the Spratlys Islands while Beijing and Hanoi are in dispute over the Paracel islands. Hanoi has proposed a multilateral solution between the Asian countries but China says that it prefers to negotiate with individual states separately. The security and strength of the Chinese borders vary depending on the location of the section of the border in question. This is due to the nature of the borders as well as the physical geography of the country. China has a"
"have both been vigorous in prosecuting their claims. China (various governments) and South Vietnam each controlled part of the Paracel Islands before 1974. A brief conflict in 1974 resulted in 18 Chinese and 53 Vietnamese deaths, and China has controlled the whole of Paracel since then. The Spratly Islands have been the site of a naval clash, in which over 70 Vietnamese sailors were killed just south of Chigua Reef in March 1988. Disputing claimants regularly report clashes between naval vessels. ASEAN in general, and Malaysia in particular, have been keen to ensure that the territorial disputes within the South"
"is said to be satisfied as when Japan renounced their sovereignty over the islands according to the San Francisco Treaty, there was a relinquishment of the right to the islands without any special beneficiary. Therefore, the islands became res nullius and available for annexation. The People's Republic of China (PRC) claims all of the Spratly Islands as part of China based on history and not UNCLOS. The People's Republic of China (PRC) is a party to the UNCLOS, signing the agreement on 29 July 1994. The Republic of China (ROC), which ruled mainland China before 1949 and has been confined"
"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. The aim of the Republic of China was to block the French claims. 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. Japan had renounced all claims to the islands in the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty together with the Paracels, Pratas and other"
"New York Times editorial board published an article siding with the Philippines against China in the South China Sea dispute and supporting the Philippines actions against China. The New York Times editorial board endorsed aggressive American military action against China in the South China Sea. Spratly Islands dispute The Spratly Islands dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute between China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, concerning ""ownership"" of the Spratly Islands, a group of islands and associated ""maritime features"" (reefs, banks, cays, etc.) located in the South China Sea. The dispute is characterised by diplomatic stalemate and the employment of"
"the second largest destroyer class in the world after the American Zumwalt-class destroyer. The Spratly Islands dispute is a territorial dispute over the ownership of the Spratly Islands, a group of islands located in the South China Sea. States staking claims to various islands are Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and People's Republic of China. All except Brunei occupy some of the islands in dispute. The People's Republic of China conducted naval patrols in the Spratly Islands and established a permanent base. On 14 March 1988, Chinese and Vietnamese naval forces clashed over Johnson South Reef in the Spratly"
"Vietnam and its neighbors, especially in the case of China since both nations assert claims to the Spratly Islands, an archipelago in a potentially oil-rich area of the South China Sea. Conflicting claims have produced over the years small scale armed altercations in the area. In 1988, more than 70 Vietnamese troops were killed during a confrontation with Chinese forces, when China occupied several islands under Vietnamese control in the Spratly Islands. China's assertion of control over the Spratly Islands and the entire South China Sea has elicited concern from Vietnam and its Southeast Asia neighbors. The territorial border between"
"and the Philippines, in a statement on 13 July 1999 released by the foreign ministry of Taiwan. 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. Taiwan and 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. Taiwan and China both claim the entire island chain, while all the other claimants only claim portions of them."
"Philippines and the Spratly Islands Philippines and the Spratly Islands – this article discusses the policies, activities and history of the Republic of the Philippines in the Spratly Islands from the Philippine perspective. Non-Filipino viewpoints regarding Philippine occupation of several islands are currently not included in this article. This article often uses the Philippine names of the maritime features, rather than the international names. The Philippines, along with Vietnam, the People's Republic of China (PRC), the Republic of China (ROC), Malaysia and Brunei, is a claimant country in the disputed Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. Currently the Philippines"
"Paracel and Spratly islands part of Taiwan, then under its rule. After the communists gained control of China in 1949, they occupied Woody Island, the main island of the Amphitrite group and the only island that was occupied at the time. Pattle Island in the Crescent group, on the other hand, was taken by French Indochina and then controlled by South Vietnam following independence in 1956. Tensions over the islands have continued to rise unceasingly since then. The Paracel islands are claimed by both China and Vietnam and the majority of those islands lie within 200 NM of China's and"
"other marine features occupied as well as claimed by Malaysia. It currently has possession of six islands, 17 reefs and three banks and of these, one island and a reef - Amboyna Cay and Barque Canada Reef/Lizzie Weber Reef - are claimed by Malaysia. Other features claimed by Vietnam are currently occupied by China, the Philippines and Taiwan. For details of the Spratly Islands dispute, see the Spratly Islands page. Pursuant to Article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Malaysia and Vietnam on 6 May 2009 jointly submitted to the Commission on the Limits"
"arbitrator ruled on 4 April 1928 that the island forms in its entirety a part of Netherlands territory. The ""Spratly Islands"", also known as the ""Kalayaan Islands"", are a group of more than 650 reefs, islets, atolls, cays and islands in the South China Sea between the Philippines, China, Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam. They comprise less than five square kilometers of land area, spread over more than 400,000 square kilometers of sea. A number of sovereignty disputes regarding these islands have arisen, some of which remain unresolved . ""Sabah"" is a Malaysian state located on the northern portion of the"
"Islands together with China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Brunei. Tensions have eased since the 2002 ""Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea"". However, it is not the legally binding code of conduct sought by some parties. Malaysia was not party to a March 2005 joint accord among the national oil companies of China, the Philippines and Vietnam on conducting marine seismic activities in the Spratly Islands. Malaysia long maintained a low-key approach to the dispute, maintaining positive relations with China due to strong economic ties, a large ethnic Chinese population, and a desire for a"
"had not been removed, and Filipino marines have been stationed aboard since the grounding. 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. 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"
"considerable scale"". The island is also claimed by China (PRC), Taiwan (ROC), and the Philippines. In 1933, the French Government took possession of the Spratly Islands including Southwest Cay and Northeast Cay. Three ships, the ""Alerte"", the ""Astrolabe"" and the ""De Lanessan"" took part in the expedition. The following quotations are from an account given by H. Cucherousset in ""L'Eveil economique de l'Indochine"" (No. 790 of May 28, 1933): After possession had been taken, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs published the following notice in the French ""Journal Officiel"" dated 26 July 1933 (page 7837): In 1939, Japan occupied the"
"to Taiwan since 1949, also claims all of the Spratly Islands. China claims to have discovered the islands in the Han dynasty in 2BC. The islands were claimed to have been marked on maps compiled during the time of Eastern Han dynasty and Eastern Wu (one of the Three Kingdoms). Since the Yuan dynasty in the 12th century, several islands that may be the Spratlys have been labelled as Chinese territory according to the ""Yuanshi"", an official history commissioned by the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in 1369, which has been subject to criticism for its lack of quality"
"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. The Philippines claimed the Spratlys in 1971 under President Marcos, after Taiwanese troops attacked and shot at a Philippine fishing boat on Itu Aba. 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"
"call the Spratly Islands, but not Spratly Island itself, nor the banks and reefs lying to the west of it. Cloma's declaration was met with hostile reactions from several neighboring countries, especially Taiwan (ROC). On September 24, 1956 Taiwan (ROC) reoccupied nearby Itu Aba Island (also known as ""Taiping Island""), which it had left in 1950, and intercepted Cloma’s men and vessels found within its immediate waters. The People's Republic of China also restated its own claim afterward. In 2014 The Philippines sought adjudication of territorial dispute with China at the International Court of Arbitration. In its pleadings, the Philippines"
"surrendering Japanese, according to international treaties made by the Allied Nations. In 1947, the Ministry of Interior of China renamed 149 of the islands. Later, in November 1947, the Secretaritat of Guangdong Government of China was authorised to publish the ""Map of the South China Sea Islands"". The Japanese and the French renounced their claims as soon as their respective occupations or colonisations ended. In 1958, the People's Republic of China (PRC) issued a declaration defining its territorial waters within what is known as the nine-dotted line which encompassed the Spratly Islands. North Vietnam's prime minister, Phạm Văn Đồng, sent"
"Spratly Island Spratly Island (; ), also known as Storm Island, with a natural area of , is the fourth largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, and the largest of the Vietnamese-administered Spratly islands. It is also claimed by China and Taiwan. In 2016 the Vietnamese embarked on a land reclamation program at ten locations in the Spratly Islands. At Spratly Island 37 acres have been reclaimed, which has allowed for the addition of a harbour and the doubling of the length of the island's runway to a length of about . Spratly island"