query: where is the spratly islands located?

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: and Malaysia are limited to particular regions in the area, making these two countries incapable of contesting exploitation rights in other regions. In his essay contributed for TIME Asia in 1999, Professor Alex Magno of University of the Philippines pointed out that China is the main aggressor in the Spratly dispute. Magno, in particular, called on ASEAN to be watchful of China's actions in the South China Sea (Magno said it is very unlucky for ASEAN that the sea where the Spratly group lies is named South China Sea, named after China). Being one of the major consumers of Chinese

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: 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

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: 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

title: Spratly Islands

text: the Republic of China, claimed the Spratly and Paracel islands under the jurisdiction of Hainan. In 1933, France asserted its claims to the Spratly and Paracel Islands on behalf of its then-colony Vietnam. 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. 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. In 1935, the ROC government also announced a sovereignty claim on the Spratly Islands.

title: Spratly Islands

text: the Spratlys, which includes the uninhabited Louisa Reef. The Spratly Islands were, in 1939, coral islets mostly inhabited by seabirds. Despite the Spratly Islands naturally consisting of 18 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, 21 underwater shoals. The northeast part of the Spratlys 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 – all of which makes the area dangerous for

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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

title: Spratly Islands

text: text, "Haiyu" (海語, On the Sea), uses "Wanli Changsha" (萬里長沙) for Spratly and noted that it is located southeast of "Wanli Shitang" (Paracels). When the Ming Dynasty collapsed, the Qing dynasty continued to include the territory in maps compiled in 1724, 1755, 1767, 1810, and 1817, but did not officially claim jurisdiction over these islands. 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 () ‒ that is, the same as the aforementioned Chinese island name "Wanli Changsha". According

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: 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

title: Spratly Islands

text: the numerous submarine half-grabens that underlie sea bottom within the Dangerous Ground region. The geological surveys show localised areas within the Spratly Islands region are favourable for the accumulation of economic oil and gas reserves. 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 lie closer to the Spratly Islands. 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

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: South China Sea. Some of these enter internal Philippine waters like the Sulu Sea, and not just disputed waters in the Spratly islands. The Philippines, in general, is tolerant in allowing Chinese vessels to fish in disputed areas including Scarborough Shoal and waters in the vicinity of Philippine-occupied Spratly islands. They are, however, arrested if the Philippine Navy or Coast Guard determines that they are doing illegal fishing activity (i.e., using dynamites, or cyanide poison). The Philippines is less tolerant in waters east of the 116°E meridian, the Sulu Sea and the waters between Philippine islands (non-Spratly). Within these areas

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: internal Sulu Sea. There had been occasions of arrests of Vietnamese fishermen by the Philippine Navy and Coast Guard, however these are not as frequent as arrests of Chinese fishermen. The arrests are also caused largely by poaching activities. The latest arrest of Vietnamese fishermen happened in May 2014 in the province of Zambales. 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

title: Spratly Islands

text: Thitu Island). 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. 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

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: South Vietnamese sovereignty over the archipelago. Up to the end of the Vietnam War the Republic of Vietnam Navy held military control over the majority of the Spratly Islands until 1975, when North Vietnamese troops attacked South Vietnamese troops and occupied the islands. After the Vietnam War, the unified Vietnam SRV (Socialist Republic of Vietnam) continued to claim the Spratly islands as an indisputably integral part of Vietnam. China has produced a letter written by North Vietnam's former Prime Minister Phạm Văn Đồng in 1958 as proof that it holds sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly islands. The Vietnamese newspaper

title: Spratly Islands

text: Philippines, and 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 the Japanese ruled Taiwan itself had annexed the Spratly islands in 1938 and 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

title: Spratly Islands

text: award that there was no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or resources, hence there was "no legal basis for China to claim historic rights" over the nine-dash line. Accordingly, the PCA tribunal decision is ruled as final and non-appealable by either countries. The tribunal also criticized China's land reclamation projects and its construction of artificial islands in the Spratly Islands, saying that it had caused "severe harm to the coral reef environment". It also characterized Taiping Island and other features of the Spratly Islands as "rocks" under UNCLOS, and therefore are not entitled to

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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 significant arable land, have no indigenous inhabitants, and very few of the islands have a permanent drinkable water supply. Natural resources include fish, guano, oil and natural gas. Economic activity has included commercial fishing, shipping, guano mining, oil and gas exploitation, and more recently, tourism. The Spratlys are located near several primary shipping lanes. In 1987, China installed a small military structure on Fiery Cross Reef on the pretext to build

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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 Spratlys. When the Spratlys and Paracels were surveyed by Germany in 1883, China issued protests against them. The 1887 Chinese-Vietnamese Boundary convention signed between France and China after the Sino-French War said that China was the owner of the Spratly and Paracel islands. 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,

title: Spratly Islands

text: a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. China however rejected the ruling, calling it "ill-founded". Taiwan, which currently administers Taiping Island, the largest of the Spratly Islands, also rejected the ruling. In 2005, a cellular phone base station was erected by the Philippines' Smart Communications on Pag-asa Island. 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

title: Spratly Islands

text: Mabini reef in Philippines). 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. 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. It was unclear whether France continued its claim to the islands after World War II,

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: islets it claims in Louisa Reef. Brunei does not practice military control in the area. Brunei's claims to the reef are based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Brunei states that the southern part of the Spratly Islands chain is actually a part of its continental shelf, and therefore a part of its territory and resources. Malaysia claims a small number of islands in the Spratly Islands and its claims cover only the islands included in its Exclusive economic zone of 200 miles as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: the waters or resources, hence there was "no legal basis for China to claim historic rights" over the nine-dash line. Accordingly, the PCA tribunal decision is ruled as final and non-appealable by either countries. The tribunal also criticized China's land reclamation projects and its construction of artificial islands in the Spratly Islands, saying that it had caused "severe harm to the coral reef environment". It also 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. China however rejected the ruling, calling it

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: natural gas exists in fields near the Spratly Islands. Still, these large potential reserves have assisted in intensifying the territorial claims of the neighbouring countries. In 1968 and 1970, the Philippines started to take their territorial claims more seriously and stationed troops on three islands which had been claimed by the adventurer Tomas Cloma as part of Freedomland. In 1973, Vietnamese troops were stationed on five islands. On 11 March 1976, the first major Philippine oil discovery occurred off the coast of Palawan, near the Spratly Islands territory. In 2010, these oil fields supplied 15% of all petroleum consumed in

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: China Sea" was signed in an effort to ease tensions between the claimants. It has been described as stipulating "that all nations claiming sovereignty over the Spratly Islands shall commit to the status quo and shall not erect any new structure in the disputed regions of Spratly, Paracel (Xisha) and Huangyan Islands." The actual language of the declaration, however, mentions neither "status quo" nor the erection of structures. The Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) is a tripartite agreement between the Philippines, China and Vietnam to conduct seismic exploration in an area spanning 142,886 square kilometers west of Palawan, all of

title: Spratly Islands

text: in association 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

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: are occupying and/or controlling ten features, (seven islands, three reefs): By comparison, within the Spratly Islands: Also, the Philippines has some features that are "virtually occupied". These are features that lie in very close proximity to Philippine-occupied features, and can be seen within the horizon. (A 15 meter-height vision gives about of horizon distance). These include: North Reef, Sandy Cay, Loaita Nan and Loaita Cay. Also, most features that lie to the east of the 116°E, though not necessarily occupied, are largely controlled by the Philippines. The Philippine assertion of sovereignty over the Spratly Islands began in May 1956, when

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: of American naval vessels transiting the area in order to assert the right to freedom of navigation within international waters. Most of the "maritime features" in this area have at least six names: The "International name", usually in English; the "Chinese name", sometimes different for PRC and ROC (and also in different character-sets); the Vietnamese, Philippine and Malaysian names, and also, there are alternate names (e.g. Spratly Island is also known as Storm Island), and sometimes names with colonial origins (French, Portuguese, Spanish, British, etc.). The Spratly Islands are important for economic and strategic reasons. The Spratly area holds potentially

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: 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

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: numerous clashes between the PRC and the Philippines, PRC and Vietnam, and between other nations over "foreign" fishing vessels in Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), and the media regularly report the arrest of Chinese fishermen. In 1984, Brunei established an exclusive fishing zone encompassing Louisa Reef in the southeastern Spratly Islands. The region is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. During the 1980s, at least 270 ships passed through the Spratly Islands region each day. More than half of the world's supertanker traffic, by tonnage, passes through the region's waters every year. Tanker traffic through the South China

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: 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.

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: of an attack from an external party. However, US does not include the Spratly Islands in its understanding of Philippine territory. Instead, the US limited itself in continuously supporting the Philippine defense programs with military and intelligence aid and training, and a variety of diplomatic measures aimed at sending a "strong message" to Beijing. Such "strong messages" and the ASEAN intervention are believed to have calmed China's previously aggressive drive in the Spratly region. China has accused the Philippines of intentionally grounding two naval vessels in the Spratly group to advance an occupation. The two ships, the BRP "Sierra Madre"

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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. 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. Terrestrial vegetation in the islands includes 103 species of vascular plants of

title: Spratly Islands

text: an oceanic observation station and install a tide gauge for the Global Sea Level Observing System. 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. The islands and cays, listed in descending order of naturally occurring area, are: The total area of archipelago's naturally occurring islands is and with reclaimed land. The Spratly Islands consist of islands, reefs, banks and shoals that consist of biogenic

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: map showing the U shaped claim on the entire South China Sea, showing the Spratly and Paracels in Chinese territory, in 1947. Taiwan's garrison from 1946–1950 and 1956-now on Itu Aba represents an "effective occupation" of the Spratly islands. Taiwan garrison forces actively fended off Philippine efforts to build on the Spratly before 1971. After the UN vote to recognize the PRC, the ROC government in Taiwan no longer was in position to defend its rights. The Philippines and Vietnam took this opportunity to establish outposts in the Spratlys. Japanese scholar Taoka Shunji criticised Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: trying to falsely portray China as a threat to Japan, and that it was invading its neighbours like the Philippines, and 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. Taoka stated that the Japanese ruled Taiwan when Taiwan had annexed the Spratly islands in 1938, and 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

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: serves the Philippine Navy today. As of 2008, the only Philippine-occupied Spratly island to have many structures is Pagasa (Thitu) Island, the lone barangay of Municipality of Kalayaan, Palawan. All Philippine-occupied Spratly islands are integrated as one municipality to the province of Palawan. Cities and municipalities in the Philippines are divided into smaller political units called barangays. However, because Pagasa is currently the only civilian-inhabited island, Kalayaan is the only municipality in the Philippines to have a single barangay and that is Pagasa. Pagasa has about 300 civilian residents and 40 soldiers. The civilian population is always less than 200

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: power generator, houses of civilian families, pig barns and goat and poultry houses. However, the number and size of Pagasa’s structures are still relatively few and small compared to structures of other countries’ occupied islands. One unique feature of Pagasa Island is its unconcretized airstrip. Aerial photos of Pagasa Island show that a rectangular portion of the coral base around Pagasa is reclaimed to serve as an extension of the airstrip. Pagasa's airstrip is the longest airstrip in the Spratly group, followed by Taiwan's Itu Aba (Ligao) Island's airstrip (completed in January 2008), Malaysia's Swallow Reef's airstrip and Vietnam's Spratly

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: the soldiers a salary way above their normal salary. Actually, this has been the reason why some of the soldiers always volunteer to take the job despite the boredom. The area surrounding Spratly is said to be rich in yet unexplored oil and gas fields, and hence, remains controversial. The Philippines began exploring the areas west of Palawan for oil in 1970. Exploration in the area began in Reed Bank/Tablemount (Reed Bank is the largest seamount within the Spratly Islands) in 1976, gas was discovered following the drilling of a well. However, China's complaints halted the exploration. Today, Malampaya oil

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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 that founded the Old Champa empire that ruled what was known for centuries as the Champa Sea. In the Song Dynasty work "Zhu fan zhi" by Zhao Rugua, the name "Thousand Li Stretch of Sands" ("Qianli Changsha", ) and the "Ten-Thousand Li of Stone Pools/Beds" ("Wanli Shitang" , or "Wanli Shichuang" ) were given, interpreted by some to refer to Paracel and Spratly respectively.

title: Spratly Islands

text: the Second World War by troops from French Indochina and Japan. However, there is no record of large settlements on the islands until 1956, when Filipino adventurer Tomás Cloma, Sr., decided to "claim" a part of Spratly islands as his own, naming it the "Free Territory of Freedomland". 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

title: Spratly Islands

text: of these islands; the Spratly group contains over 600 coral reefs in total. 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. 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

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: 6.45 hectares in area respectively. With this setting, the Philippines is able to guard the small islands effectively without having to build any structures or to send any soldiers permanently to the two tiny islands. A watchtower is present on each of the large islands to effectively see the tiny islands within the horizon. Also, Philippine naval vessels and reconnaissance planes are always present in the area to detect movements of foreign countries. Philippine in the Spratly group, just like any other country, reserve the right to shoot down any vessel of other countries that can be found within the

title: Spratly Islands

text: recognisable English name, who visited the group in the 1840s in his whaler "Cyrus"). 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. 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

title: Spratly Islands

text: the islands in the 18th century. 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. 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

title: Spratly Island

text: 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

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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. 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

title: Spratly Island

text: There is a 5.5 m-high obelisk at the southern tip. 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

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: 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

title: Spratly Islands

text: islands captured from the Chinese, and upon these declarations, the government of the Republic of China reasserted its claim to the islands. The Chinese Kuomintang force withdrew from most of the Spratly and Paracel Islands after they retreated to Taiwan from the opposing Communist Party of China due to their losses in the Chinese Civil War and the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. 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. , Taiping Island

title: Spratly Islands

text: stocks in the world's most fish-dependent region." He explained that, "the world has heard little about the damage inflicted by the Peoples 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." Records show the islands as inhabited at various times in history by Chinese and Vietnamese fishermen, and during

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: the rest of the world in general, would be interested in the Spratly Islands. In 1968, oil was discovered in the region. The Geology and Mineral Resources Ministry of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has estimated that the Spratly area holds oil and natural gas reserves of 17.7 billion tons (1.60 × 10 kg), compared to the 13 billion tons (1.17 × 10 kg) held by Kuwait, placing it as, potentially, the fourth largest reserve bed in the world. The United States Energy Information Administration contests this, estimating almost no oil and less than 100 billion cubic feet of

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: 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

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: and numerous errors. This labeling has also occurred in the Qing dynasty from the 13th to 19th Century; the islands may have appeared on a 1755 map, among others. Archaeological surveys have found the remains of Chinese pottery and coins in the islands, cited as proof for the PRC claim, but they are more likely to have come from shipwrecks of passing Chinese junks. Chinese fishermen have fished around the islands since 200 BC. 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

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: location rendered it strategically important to Philippine national security". In 1978, the Philippine Presidential Decree No. 1599 was based on the fact that Kalayaan is within the Philippine 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Philippine claim extends over an area of 70,150 sq. nm. The Philippines sent troops to the Spratly group for the first time in 1968. It prioritized large islands such as Pagasa (Thitu Island), Likas (West York Island), Parola (Northeast Cay), Kota (Loaita Island, Lawak (Nanshan Island), and Pugad (Southwest Cay). Two small islands, Patag (Flat Island) and Panata (Lankiam Cay), were also occupied. To further the

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: "ill-founded". Taiwan, which currently administers Taiping Island, the largest of the Spratly Islands, also rejected the ruling. The Philippines have stationed soldiers in its occupied islands and reefs. One to three small structures were built in Likas, Parola, Kota, Lawak and Rizal Reef to house soldiers. The only island having a significant number of structures is Pagasa (see Pagasa Island subsection in this article), the only Philippine-occupied island to have a civilian population. The Philippines had built any structure on Ayungin and Balagtas Reefs. A naval ship, "BRP Sierra Madre", which ran aground on Ayungin Reef in 1999 serves as

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: 1978, President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines issued Presidential decree No. 1596, declaring the Spratly Islands (referred to therein as the Kalayaan Island Group) as Philippine territory. The Philippine claim to Kalayaan on a geographical basis can be summarised using the assertion that Kalayaan is distinct from other island groups in the South China Sea, because of the size of the biggest island in the Kalayaan group. A second argument used by the Philippines regarding their geographical claim over the Spratlys is that all the islands claimed by the Philippines lie within its 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone according to the

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: it the most significant change to the South China Sea dispute since the 1988 Johnson South Reef Skirmish. If completed as envisioned in the CGI designs, China will have its first airstrip in the Spratly islands – and a base from which to impose its interpretation of the surrounding features' sovereignty'. Janes also noted that in contrast to the previous construction projections of other countries in the Spratlys, 'The main difference between these activities and China's is that they modified existing land masses, while Beijing is constructing islands out of reefs that for the most part were under water at

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: left the Republic of China with control over Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and some outlying islands, issued a declaration of a 12 nautical mile limit territorial waters that encompassed the Spratly Islands. North Vietnam's prime minister, Phạm Văn Đồng, sent a formal note to PRC's Premier Zhou Enlai to recognise these claims; and stated that the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) respects the decision on the 12 nautical mile limit territorial waters, although South Vietnam continued to claim sovereignty over the islands. North Vietnam recognised China's claims on the Paracels and Spratlys during the Vietnam War

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: amidst speculation it is planning to further develop its military presence in the area. In 2015 satellite imagery revealed that China was rapidly constructing an airfield on Fiery Cross Reef within the Spratlys whilst continuing its land reclamation activities at other sites. Only China (PRC), Taiwan (ROC), and Vietnam have made claims based on historical sovereignty of the islands. The Philippines, however, claims part of the area as its territory under UNCLOS, an agreement parts of which have been ratified by the countries involved in the Spratly islands dispute. There are multiple reasons why the neighbouring nations in particular, and

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: were not under the sovereignty of any state, and that they exercised sovereignty over the two archipelagos continuously and peacefully until they were invaded by Chinese armed forces. In "Phủ biên tạp lục" (撫邊雜錄, Miscellaneous Records of Pacification in the Border Area) by the scholar Lê Quý Đôn, Hoàng Sa (Paracel Islands), and Trường Sa (Spratly Islands) were defined as belonging to Quảng Ngãi District. In "Đại Nam nhất thống toàn đồ" (大南ー統全圖), an atlas of Vietnam completed in 1838, Trường Sa was shown as Vietnamese territory. Vietnam had conducted many geographical and resource surveys of the islands. The results

title: Spratly Islands

text: only has control over reefs. In January 2013, the Philippines formally initiated arbitration proceedings against China's claim on the territories within the "nine-dash line" that includes Spratly Islands, which it said is "unlawful" under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). An arbitration tribunal was constituted under Annex VII of UNCLOS and it was decided in July 2013 that the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) would function as registry and provide administrative duties in the proceedings. On 12 July 2016, the arbitrators of the tribunal of PCA agreed unanimously with the Philippines. They concluded in the

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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 700 × 300 meters), and smaller during the southwest monsoon (approximately 650 × 320 meters). Some islands may contain fresh groundwater fed by rain. Groundwater levels fluctuate during the day with the rhythm of the tides. 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. Coral reefs are the predominant structures

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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 , is currently managed by the Khánh Hòa Provincial People's Committee of Vietnam. Military groups in the Spratlys 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.

title: Spratly Islands

text: "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. However, the Yuan also ruled over Korea, Mongolia, and parts of modern Russia. They are also referenced, sometimes with different names, in the Ming dynasty. For example, in the Mao Kun map dating from Zheng He's voyage of the early 15th century, "Shixing Shitang" (石星石塘) is taken by some to mean Spratly, however different authors interpret the identities of these islands differently. Another Ming

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: 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. The Spratlys and the Paracels were conquered by Japan in 1939. Japan administered the Spratlys via Taiwan's jurisdiction and the Paracels via Hainan's jurisdiction. In 1946, the Americans reminded the Philippines at its independence that the Spratlys was not Philippine territory, both to not anger Chiang Kai-shek in China and because the Spratlys were not part of the Philippines per the

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: was the British who launched the first modern legal claims to the Spratlys. When the Spratlys and Paracels were being surveyed by Germany in 1883, China issued protests against them. 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. The Spratlys and the Paracels were conquered from France by Japan in 1939. Japan administered the Spratlys via Taiwan's jurisdiction and the Paracels via Hainan's jurisdiction. The Paracels and Spratlys were

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: historical connection to the disputed islands in the South China Sea would expose the 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 to attention. 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 Spratlys. When the Spratlys and Paracels were being surveyed by Germany in 1883, China issued protests against them.

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: 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)

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: Reef). Rizal is not in the northeast region; it is near many Vietnamese and Malaysian occupied reefs, thus serving as a good sentry against eastward expansion of Vietnam and northward expansion of Malaysia (see the map below). Unlike Rizal, Balagtas lies at the center of the northeast region. Southwest Cay, known as Pugad island in the Philippines, (南子岛) Nanzi Dao in China and Đảo Song Tử Tây in Vietnam, is an island in the North Danger Reef of the Spratly Islands. It was occupied by Philippine forces up to 1975, when South Vietnam forces were able to invade and occupy

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: the island. Southwest Cay is in the northern western corner of the Spratly Islands. It is within the North Danger Reef, which also contains the Philippine-occupied Northeast Cay (Parola Island), the Vietnamese-occupied South Reef and the unoccupied North Reef. Southwest and Northeast Cays are just from each other; each island can actually see the other within their respective horizons. The "invasion" (occupation of the island) took place when all of the Philippine soldiers guarding the island of Pugad (Southwest Cay) left to attend to the birthday party of their commanding officer, who was based on the neighbouring Parola Island (Northeast

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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. In May 2011, Chinese patrol boats attacked two Vietnamese oil exploration ships near the Spratly Islands. 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

title: Spratly Islands

text: 2011, the Philippines began officially referring to the South China Sea as the "West Philippine Sea" and the Reed Bank as "Recto Bank". In July 2012, the National Assembly of Vietnam passed a law demarcating Vietnamese sea borders to include the Spratly and Paracel Islands. In 2010, it was reported that the former Malaysian Prime Minister (now the current Malaysian Prime Minister) Mahathir Mohamad believed Malaysia could profit from China's economic growth through co-operation with China, and said that China "was not a threat to anyone and was not worried about aggression from China", as well accusing the United States

title: Spratly Islands

text: the Spratlys in 1971 under President Marcos, after Taiwanese troops attacked and shot at a Philippine fishing boat on Itu Aba. Taiwan's garrison from 1946–1950 and 1956-now on Itu Aba represents an "effective occupation" of the Spratlys. China established a coastal defence system against Japanese pirates or smugglers. 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 limit of territorial waters. While accepting

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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. 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. Taiwan's state run oil company CPC Corp's board director Chiu Yi has called Vietnam as

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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 200 kg 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. 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 and Atmospheric Science, has explored the possibilities of designating portions of the Spratly Islands

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: China's claim on the territories within the "nine-dash line" that includes Spratly Islands, which it said is "unlawful" under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) convention. An arbitration tribunal was constituted under Annex VII of UNCLOS and it was decided in July 2013 that the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) would function as registry and provide administrative duties in the proceedings. On July 12, 2016, the arbitrators of the tribunal of PCA agreed unanimiously with the Philippines. They concluded in the award that there was no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control over

title: Richard Spratly

text: Whitechapel, 52) Spratly living together 22 Robinsons Road, Hackney (district 6) with Richard (son, 18 born Stepney), Thomas (son, 15 born Ramsgate) and Jane (daughter, 22 born Stepney). Matilda Spratly (daughter, 11, born Ramsgate, staying with friends) Richard Spratly Captain Richard Spratly (1802–1870) was a British sea captain and contributor to navigational records, after whom the Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea are named. Richard Spratly was born on 22 January 1802 in the parish of All Saints, Poplar, East London. His father, Thomas, is described on his birth certificate as a boatbuilder. His mother was Ann née Myers.

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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, 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. The following are political divisions for the Spratly Islands claimed by various area nations (in alphabetical order): In the 19th century, Europeans

title: Spratly Islands

text: 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. 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

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: Zhou Enlai in response to China's declaration. The Vietnamese newspaper Thanh Nien News claims that the letter has no legal relevance in China's sovereignty claims to the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos for the three following reasons: The islands occupied by Vietnam are organised as a district of Khánh Hòa Province. According to the 2009 census, the Trường Sa District has a population of 195 people. At the 12th National Assembly (2007–2011) Election held early in Trường Sa, the people and soldiers also voted for their local district government for the first time. For the first time, Trường Sa is organised

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: Dai Da and Zhu Fan Zhi as being in the Sea of Jiaozhi, Jiaozhi being the old name for a Chinese province in modern-day northern Vietnam, or as writings on foreign countries. Vietnam's view is that the Chinese records do not constitute the declaration and exercise of sovereignty and that China did not declare sovereignty over the Spratlys until after World War II. On the other hand, Vietnam claims the Spratlys based on international law on declaring and exercising sovereignty. Vietnam claims that it has occupied the Spratly and the Paracel islands at least since the 17th century, when they

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: Sea is over three times greater than through the Suez Canal and five times more than through the Panama Canal; 25% of the world's crude oil passes through the South China Sea. There have been a number of notable clashes in the Spratly Islands, some of which are discussed in the following articles: Via UNCLOS, the United Nations provided for countries with coastlines to submit claims to the UN's Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), (for their continental shelf to be extended beyond 200 nautical miles of their shores), by 13 May 2009. A total of 48

title: Richard Spratly

text: Richard Spratly Captain Richard Spratly (1802–1870) was a British sea captain and contributor to navigational records, after whom the Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea are named. Richard Spratly was born on 22 January 1802 in the parish of All Saints, Poplar, East London. His father, Thomas, is described on his birth certificate as a boatbuilder. His mother was Ann née Myers. He was the second of four children (Mary Ann born 25 December 1799), Jane (born 15 December 1812) and William (born 18 March 1815). 1818, 6 June – Spratly first sails as an apprentice on "Earl of

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: Tomas Cloma, owner of a Philippine fishing vessel company, and director of the Philippine Maritime Institute, declared the founding of the new municipality called ""Kalayaan"" (). He "found" the islands while he, with his brothers and 40 crew, were "adventuring" in the South China Sea. Observing that there was no human settlement, nor national flag, present on them, he decided to establish the Kalayaan municipality. He posted a document in English, entitled "Notice to the Whole World", on all features he claimed. His claim comprises about fifty features among the Spratly group. In September 1956, after the Republic of China

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: the government. Most of them are involved in fishing and other sea-related crafts. To make some additions to their supplies which are provided by a naval ship which visits once a month, the settlers also raise pigs, goats and chickens and plant some crops in an allotted space. Because of its thriving civilian community, the only one in the Spratly group, Pagasa has many structures compared to other Philippine-occupied islands. These include the municipal multi-purpose hall, a school and clinic, a military outpost, a water treatment plant, a deep well, a marina, a 1.26 km airstrip, a commercial communications tower,

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: offshore archipelagos, which was of small interest by that times, it was clearly understood by all the parties that the Republic of Vietnam inherit of all the French Indochina's Vietnamese territories under the 17th Parallel. As the Paracel and the Spratly archipelagos (which lay below the 17th parallel) were part of the French Indochina since 1933, they were part of "South Vietnam" territory. The French bestowed its titles, rights, and claims over the two island chains to the Republic of Vietnam. The Republic of Vietnam (RVN) exercised sovereignty over the islands, by placing border markers on the Spratlys to indicate

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: like a normal inland district, with a township (Trường Sa) and two communes (Sinh Tồn and Song Tử Tây). Forty nine people were elected to the communes' people's councils. In July 2012 the National Assembly of Vietnam passed a law demarcating Vietnamese sea borders to include the Spratly and Paracel Islands. 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 a war in 1832. The Vietnamese government fears that using the evidence of Champa's

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: and Taiwan has started viewing Vietnam as an enemy over the Spratly Islands, not China. Taiwan's state run oil company CPC Corp's board director Chiu Yi has called Vietnam as the "greatest threat" to Taiwan. Taiwan's airstrip on Taiping has irritated Vietnam. 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. China's claims to the Spratlys 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

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: 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

title: Spratly Island

text: lies west of the SW of Dangerous Ground in the western half of the Spratly Islands. It is neighboured by Ladd Reef to the west, the London Reefs to the east, and others. In April 1930, France sent the dispatch boat "(aviso)", "la Malicieuse", to the archipelago and raised the flag of France on a high mound on Spratly Island, also known as "île de la Tempête". According to an official announcement by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France occupied Spratly Island on April 13, 1930. On 21 December 1933, the Governor of Cochinchina, Jean-Félix Krautheimer, signed Decree No.

title: Richard Spratly

text: by Captain Doyle of Australia and Captain Campbell of the Hydrographic Office His sighting was reported in "The Nautical Magazine" in the year 1843, issue 697:. The publication of his voyage in the Nautical Magazine and The Naval Chronicle popularized his naming of the island, even though the island had previously been named "Horsburgh's Storm Island" by Captain James Horsburgh. The British Admiralty finally agreed that the scattered islands in the area be named the Spratly Islands. 1845, 22 May – "Cyrus" departs from The Downs [off Dover] 1845, 18 Sept – "Cyrus" under Spratly in Batavia, from London, for

title: Spratly Island

text: a permanent garrison there after the Crescent Group of the Paracel Islands was lost to China. On April 29, 1975, the Vietnam People's Army evicted South Vietnam's troops and occupied the island. Under the South Vietnamese regime, Spratly Island was placed under the administration of Phước Tuy Province. In 2007, the Vietnamese government upgraded the island's status to a commune-level town which is in charge of administrating all nearby Vietnamese-controlled features such as Amboyna Cay and Barque Canada Reef. On the island lies Trường Sa District's administrative center. Spratly Island is shaped like an isosceles triangle. According to a document

title: Spratly Islands dispute

text: the Philippines. In 1992, the PRC and Vietnam granted oil exploration contracts to US oil companies that covered overlapping areas in the Spratlys. In May 1992, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and Crestone Energy (a US company based in Denver, Colorado) signed a co-operation contract for the joint exploration of the "Wan'an Bei-21" block, a section of the southwestern South China Sea that includes Spratly Island areas. Part of the Crestone's contract covered Vietnam's blocks 133 and 134, where PetroVietnam, PetroStar Energy(USA) and ConocoPhillips Vietnam Exploration & Production, a unit of ConocoPhillips, agreed to evaluate prospects in April

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: other countries occupied most of the features they control now during that period, the Philippines has maintained not to occupy any features further. It is attributed to the Philippines' initiation for the cooperative development of the area. The Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia, along with other ASEAN countries who can serve as investors, were already drawing a plan on a wide exploitation of the Spratly group in the early 1980s when suddenly China became interested in the area. China began occupying features by mid-1980s causing the ASEAN plan to halt. The most controversial occupation of China is the Panganiban Reef (Mischief

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: goods and being adjacent to China itself, the ASEAN bloc is capable of crippling the Chinese economy, both through product boycotts and the possibility of peace instability. Even non-Spratly claiming ASEAN nations—Singapore, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar—are more supportive to the Vietnamese, Philippine, Malaysian and Bruneian claims than the Chinese claim. However, China today is beginning to engage itself in joint efforts to exploit the area. In particular, China, the Philippines, and Vietnam are already working on their second phase of drawing a joint exploitation plan. In November 2002 the "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: convictions. However, Philippine courts generally only confiscate the vessels, and fines the offenders a sum of money that is always paid by the Chinese government. In other situations, the courts approve bail even before a trial could start, and the fishermen are repatriated. Environmentalists in the Philippines have always criticized the Philippine government for allowing Chinese fishermen to be released on bail, saying that they must still be punished under Philippine laws. China has always protested the Philippines' arrest of its fishermen, whether these were arrested in the Spratly region controlled by the Philippines, in Scarborough Shoal, or in the

title: Philippines and the Spratly Islands

text: poachers" by the Philippine press. Most of them are arrested in the Sulu Sea (an internal sea within the Philippines), with some apprehended in Scarborough Shoal. Rarely, arrests are made in the Visayas seas. When poachers are arrested in the Spratly region, they are turned in to Puerto Princesa City, Palawan; if in the Sulu Sea, to Puerto Princesa City, Palawan or Zamboanga City whichever is nearer; if in Scarborough Shoal, to Subic, Zambales. Apprehended poachers are put to trial quickly, to avoid further political disputes with China. Normally cases are disposed of within two months, with almost all being

title: Richard Spratly

text: 1860 30 May "Atalanta" arrives Victoria, Australia after voyage of 86 days 1861 Richd Spratly noted in Census. Married, age 59. Master, not living on board. Vessel "Atalanta". Number 5 Jetty North Side East India Docks There is an entry for a Captain Richard Spratly as master of "Redrose" in 1864. It's not clear if this is the same Richard Spratly. Richard Spratly died, "at the residence of his nephew, Ealing, Middlesex, aged 69.". The address on death certificate is Oxton Villa, Ealing. The cause of death was pleuropneumonia. The informant was Richard's youngest child, Matilda M. Spratly, resident of