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South China Sea

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General Geography

   The South China Sea, showing surrounding countries and neighbouring
   seas and oceans
   Enlarge
   The South China Sea, showing surrounding countries and neighbouring
   seas and oceans

   The South China Sea is a marginal sea south of China. It is a part of
   the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from Singapore to the Strait of
   Taiwan of around 3,500,000 km². It is the largest sea body after the
   five oceans. The minute South China Sea Islands, collectively an
   archipelago, number in the hundreds. The sea and its mostly uninhabited
   islands are subject to several competing claims of sovereignty by
   neighboring nations. These competing claims are also reflected in the
   variety of names used for the islands and the sea.

Geography

   South China Sea, natural resources and competing national interests.
   Enlarge
   South China Sea, natural resources and competing national interests.

   The International Hydrographic Organization defines the sea as
   stretching in a southwest to northeast direction, whose southern border
   is 3 degrees South latitude between South Sumatra and Kalimantan (
   Karimata Strait), and whose northern border is the Strait of Taiwan
   from the northern tip of Taiwan to the Fujian coast of mainland China.
   The Gulf of Thailand covers the western portion of the South China Sea.

   The sea lies above a drowned continental shelf; during recent ice ages
   global sea level was hundreds of meters lower, and Borneo was part of
   the Asian mainland.

   States and territories with borders on the sea (clockwise from north)
   include: the mainland China, Macao, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines,
   Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, and
   Vietnam.

   Major rivers that flow into the South China Sea include the Pearl, Min,
   Jiulong, Red, Mekong, Rajang, Pahang, and Pasig Rivers.

Islands and seamounts

   Within the sea, there are over 200 identified islands and reefs, most
   of them within the Spratly Islands. 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 km long and
   with its highest elevation at 3.8 metres.

   There is a 100- km wide seamount called Reed Tablemount in NE Spratlys,
   separated from Palawan Island of the Philippines by the Palawan Trench.
   Now about 20m under the sea level it was an island until it sunk about
   7,000 years ago due to the increasing sea level after the last ice age.

Territorial claims

   Competing territorial claims over the South China Sea and its resources
   are numerous. Because the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea allows for
   a country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to extend 200 nm (370.6 km)
   beyond territorial waters, all the nations surrounding the sea can lay
   claim to great portions of it. The People's Republic of China (PRC) has
   stated its claim to almost the entire body. Recent reports indicate the
   PRC is building an aircraft carrier battle group to secure energy lines
   in the South China Sea. Areas with potential problems include:
     * Indonesia and the PRC over waters NE of the Natuna Islands.
     * The Philippines and the PRC over the Malampaya and Camago gas
       fields.
     * The Philippines and the PRC over Scarborough Shoal.
     * Vietnam and the PRC over waters west of the Spratly Islands. Some
       or all of the islands themselves are also disputed between Vietnam,
       the PRC, the ROC, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
     * The Paracel Islands are disputed between the PRC/ROC and Vietnam.
     * Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam over areas in the Gulf of
       Thailand.
     * Singapore and Malaysia along the Straits of Johore and the Straits
       of Singapore.

   The PRC and Vietnam have both been vigorous in prosecuting their
   claims. The Paracel Islands was seized by China in 1974 and 18 soldiers
   were killed. The Spratly Islands have been the site of a naval clash,
   in which over seventy 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, has been keen to ensure
   that the territorial disputes within the South China Sea do not
   escalate into armed conflict. As such, Joint Development Authorities
   have been setup in areas of overlapping claims to jointly develop the
   area and dividing the profits equally without settling the issue of
   sovereignty over the area. This is true, particularly in the Gulf of
   Thailand.

   The overlapping claims over Pedra Branca or Pulau Batu Putih by both
   Singapore and Malaysia has been brought to the International Court of
   Justice and the case is expected to be heard in 2007.

Names for the sea

   South China Sea is the dominant term used in English for the sea, and
   the name in most European languages is equivalent, but it is sometimes
   called by different names in neighboring countries, often reflecting
   historical claims to hegemony over the sea.

   The English name is a result of early European interest in the sea as a
   route from Europe and South Asia to the trading opportunities of China.
   In the sixteenth century Portuguese sailors called it the China Sea
   (Mare da China); later needs to differentiate it from nearby bodies of
   water lead to calling it the South China Sea.

   In China, the traditional name for the sea is Southern Sea (南海;
   Nánhǎi). In contemporary Chinese publications, it is commonly called
   South China Sea (南中國海, Nán Zhōnggúo Hǎi), and this name is often used
   in English-language maps published by China. In Vietnam, it is called
   the Eastern Sea (Biển Đông); this name is sometimes used by Vietnamese
   mapmakers in foreign-language publications. In the Philippines, it is
   sometimes called the Luzon Sea, after the major Philippine island of
   Luzon. In Southeast Asia, it was once called the Champa Sea or Sea of
   Cham, after the Malayo-Polynesian maritime kingdom that flourished
   before the sixteenth century.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_China_Sea"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
