The
South China Sea is a
marginal sea- north east of the Malay peninsula (Malaysia) and Singapore, and
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 one of the largest sea bodies 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 competing claims of sovereignty by several countries. These claims are also reflected in the variety of names used for the islands and the sea.
Names for the sea
Sunset on the South China Sea off
Mui Ne village on the south-east coast of
Vietnam 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 (
Mar da China); later needs to differentiate it from nearby bodies of water led to calling it the South China Sea.
[Tønnesson, Stein (2005). Locating the South China Sea. In Kratoska, Paul et al., eds. Locating Southeast Asia: geographies of knowledge and politics of space. Singapore: Singapore University Press. p. 203-233.]In
Vietnam, it is officially called "East Sea" by the government of Vietnam. And the name Biển Đông("East Sea" in English) is used in its official map.
The part of the South China Sea within
Philippine territorial waters is often given the name "Luzon Sea" (
Dagat Luzon) in maps published in the country, after the major Philippine island of
Luzon. However, the name "South China Sea" (
Dagat Timog Tsina) is still the accepted name for the whole sea in the Philippines.
In Southeast Asia, it was once called the
Champa Sea or Sea of Cham, after the maritime kingdom that flourished before the sixteenth century.
Geography
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 metres lower, and
Borneo was part of the Asian mainland.
States and territories with borders on the sea (clockwise from north) include: the
mainland China,
Macau,
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.
Geology
The South China Sea opened after around
45 million years ago when the
Dangerous Grounds were rifted away from southern China. Extension culminated in
seafloor spreading around 30 million years ago, a process that propagated to the SW resulting in the V-shaped basin we see today. Extension ceased around 17 million years ago. Arguments have continued about the role of tectonic extrusion in forming the basin.
Paul Tapponnier and colleagues have argued that as India collides with Asia it pushes
Indochina to the SE. The relative shear between Indochina and China caused the South China Sea to open. This view is disputed by geologists who do not consider Indochina to have moved far relative to mainland Asia. Recent marine geophysical studies by
Peter Clift has shown that the Red River Fault was active and causing basin formation at least by 37 million years ago in the NW South China Sea, consistent with extrusion playing a part in the formation of the sea. Since opening the South China Sea has been the repository of large sediment volumes delivered by the
Mekong River,
Red River and
Pearl River. Several of these deltas are rich in oil and gas deposits.
Islands and seamounts
Within the sea, there are over 200 identified islands and reefs, most of them within the
Spratly Islands( Trường Sa). 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.
The largest singular feature in the area of the Spratly Islands is a 100 km wide
seamount called
Reed Tablemount, also known as Reed Bank, in the northeast of the group, separated from
Palawan Island of the
Philippines by the Palawan Trench. Now completely submerged, with a depth of 20 m, it was an island until it sank about 7,000 years ago due to the increasing sea level after the last
ice age. With an area of 8,866 km², it is one of the largest submerged
atoll structures of the world.
Resources
It is an extremely significant body of water in a geopolitical sense. It is the second most used
sea lane in the world, while in terms of world annual merchant fleet tonnage, over 50% passes through the
Strait of Malacca, the
Sunda Strait, and the
Lombok Strait. Over 1.6 million m³ (10 million barrels) of
crude oil a day are shipped through the Strait of
Malacca, where there are regular reports of
piracy, but much less frequently than before the mid-20th century.
The region has proven
oil reserves of around 1.2 km³ (7.7 billion
barrels), with an estimate of 4.5 km³ (28 billion barrels) in total.
Natural gas reserves are estimated to total around 7,500 km³ (266 trillion cubic feet).
According to studies made by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Philippines, this body of water holds one third of the all world's marine biodiversity, thereby making it a very important area for the ecosystem.
Territorial claims
In the Twentieth Century, numerous competing territorial claims have arisen over the East Vietnam Sea, particularly since the advent of modern undersea oil and natural gas exploration. Such disputes have been regarded as Asia's most potentially dangerous point of conflict.
Both
People's Republic of China and the
Republic of China claim almost the entire body as their own, which claims overlap with virtually every other country in the region. Competing claims include:
- Indonesia and the PRC/ROC over waters NE of the Natuna Islands
- Vietnam and the PRC/ROC 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(Hoàng Sa) are disputed between the PRC/ROC and Vietnam.
- Singapore and Malaysia along the Strait of Johore and the Strait of Singapore.
The PRC and Vietnam have both been vigorous in prosecuting their claims. The Paracel Islands (Hoàng Sa) were invided by China in 1974 and 18 soldiers were killed. The
Spratly Islands(Trường Sa) 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.
PRC in the years after 2000, trying to resolve issues peacefully, has also publicly announced the adoption of a “bi-lateral joint development” model to jointly develop the disputed area and share the benefit without settling the issue of sovereignty over the area.
The overlapping claims over
Pedra Branca or
Pulau Batu Putih including neighboring
Middle Rocks by both Singapore and Malaysia were settled in 2008 by the
International Court of Justice, awarding
Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore and Middle Rocks to Malaysia.
See also
