China seized the Paracel Islands from South Vietnam and subsequently occupied them. In 1978, China occupied six atolls in the Spratly Islands. These had also been taken from Vietnam. In 1988, Chinese and Vietnamese navies clashed on one of the reefs. Two Vietnamese gunboats were sunk and many people died.
China still occupies the reef.
In 1991, Indonesia organized The South China Sea Workshop, hoping to find a peaceful solution to the dispute among the six claimants. Malaysia began to develop the reef for tourism. This area was partly claimed by China. In February 1995, the Philippines armed forces discovered Chinese-constructed concrete markers on Mischief Reef within 200 kilometers of Palawan Island, in the Philippines. In March 1995, a Taiwanese naval mission of armed patrol boats was being sent to the Spratly's but was called off midway to its destination.