The Spratly Islands dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute among Brunei, China (PRC), Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan (ROC), and Vietnam concerning "ownership" of the Spratly Islands, a group of islands and associated "maritime features" (reefs, banks, and cays etc.) located in the South China Sea. The dispute is characterized 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.
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 Philippine, Vietnamese and Malaysian names, and also, there are alternate names (e.g. Spratly Island is also known as Storm Island), and sometimes names with European origins (French, Portuguese, Spanish, British, etc.).
Although not large, reserves of oil and natural gas have been found in the area. It is a commercial fishing ground and close to global shipping routes. Its strategic position allows countries to monitor maritime activities in the area and project military power.China goes all out with major island-building project in Spratlys – IHS Jane's 360 . Janes.com (20 June 2014). Retrieved 12 May 2015. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) does not decide on the sovereignty of disputed territories, as that requires separate legal and diplomatic efforts beyond the scope of UNCLOS. Additionally, China (PRC), Taiwan (ROC), and Vietnam are the only ones to have made claims based on historical sovereignty of the islands.
Background information Hydrocarbons
Hydrocarbon exploration connected with the wider Spratly Islands dispute has included activity at Recto Bank (Reed Bank), a submerged bank west of Palawan that is geographically separate from the Spratly Islands proper and is subject to overlapping maritime claims.
Petroleum exploration in the Recto Bank area began during the 1970s. Natural gas was discovered in the Sampaguita structure in 1976 following the drilling of an exploratory well. Three wells were subsequently drilled at the southwestern end of the structure, two of which tested gas at rates of 3.6 million and 3.2 million standard cubic feet per day, respectively.
In 1992, the PRC and Vietnam granted oil exploration contracts to United States oil companies covering overlapping areas in the Spratlys. In May 1992, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and Crestone Energy, a United States company based in Denver, Colorado, signed a cooperation contract for the joint exploration of the Wan'an Bei-21 block, a section of the southwestern South China Sea that includes areas claimed as part of the Spratlys.
In 2012–2013, the United States Energy Information Administration estimated that contested areas such as the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands contained very little oil and natural gas. Most of the estimated 11 billion barrels of proved or probable oil reserves and 190 trillion cubic feet of proved or probable natural-gas reserves in the South China Sea were situated near undisputed shorelines.
Commercial fishing In 2010, the Western Central Pacific (excluding the northernmost reaches of the South China Sea closest to the PRC coast) accounted for 14% of the total world catch at 11.7 million tonnes. This was up from less than 4 million tonnes in 1970. In 1984, Brunei established an exclusive fishing zone encompassing Louisa Reef in the southeastern Spratly Islands. (Archived from the original on 2005-01-07).
Additionally, pages 48 and 51 of "The Brunei-Malaysia Dispute over Territorial and Maritime Claims in International Law" by R. Haller-Trost, Clive Schofield, and Martin Pratt, published by the International Boundaries Research Unit , University of Durham, UK, points out that this is a "territorial dispute" between Brunei and other claimants over the ownership of one above-water feature – Louisa Reef.
Global shipping The area is close to some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, accounting for $3.4 trillion of the $16 trillion global trade in 2016.
Presence by country
Claims and their basis
China, the Philippines, Taiwan (ROC) and Vietnam claim the whole Spratly Islands while Brunei and Malaysia claim part of the Islands.
Brunei Brunei claims the part of the South China Sea nearest to it as part of its continental shelf and exclusive economic zone (EEZ). In 1984, Brunei declared an EEZ encompassing the above-water islets it claims in Louisa Reef. Brunei does not practice military control in the area.
Basis of Brunei's claim Brunei's claims to the reef are based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).Oceans & Law of the Sea , United Nations 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.Spratly Island Dispute (SPRATLY Case), 30 April 1996, Trade Environment Database (TED), American University. (Archived from the original on 22 July 2012)
The People's Republic of China (China) and the Republic of China (Taiwan)
The People's Republic of China (PRC) claims are based on history and not UNCLOS. However, the PRC still claims all of the Spratly Islands as part of China. The 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 to Taiwan since 1949, also claims all of the Spratly Islands.
Basis for the PRC's and the ROC's claims Chinese (Qin dynasty) fishermen may have fished around the islands since 200 BC, although activity dates to before recorded history, thousands of years ago along with neighboring Nusantaria (present-day Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, and East Timor). China's discovery claims to date back to the Han dynasty in 2 BC. The islands are claimed to have been marked on maps compiled during the Eastern Han dynasty and Eastern Wu (one of the Three Kingdoms). In the Yuan dynasty (12th century), several islands that may be the Spratlys were labelled as Chinese territory according to the Yuanshi, an official history commissioned by the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty in 1369. Similar labeling also occurred in the Qing dynasty (13th to 19th century); the islands may have appeared on a 1755 map, among others. French divers found remains of a 15th-century Chinese galleon near the coast of Brunei, cited by Beijing as proof that 15th-century Chinese sailed these waters.Undersea Treasure Chest Stirs up Tensions, BBC, 29 April 1999.
In the 19th century, Europeans found that Chinese fishermen from Hainan annually sojourned to the Spratly Islands for part of the year, similar to neighboring Austronesians for thousands of years. In 1877 the British launched the first modern legal claims to the Spratlys.
When it was discovered that the area was being surveyed by Germany in 1883, China issued protests against them. China sent naval forces on inspection tours in 1902 and 1907 of the Paracel Islands and placed flags and markers on the islands. In 1909 it established a naval presence for a time in the Paracels as a reaction to Japanese moves. The Qing dynasty's successor state, the Republic of China, was to later claim 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. Upon its surrender in 1945, Japan handed the Paracels and Spratlys to Republic of China as the Allied powers had assigned the Republic of China to receive Japanese surrenders in that area.
After World War II ended, the Republic of China was the "most active claimant". The Republic of China then garrisoned Itu Aba (Taiping) Island in 1946 and posted Chinese flags and markers on it along with Woody island in the Paracels, France tried, but failed to make them leave Woody island. 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 including the Spratly and Paracels in 1947.
Taiwan's garrison from 1946 to 1950 and 1956–present on Itu Aba represents an "effective occupation" of the Spratly Islands.
On May 15, 1996, the PRC submitted to the United Nations its geographic baseline, which included the Paracel Islands and Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, but did not include the Spratly Islands.
China and Taiwan rejected a 2016 UNCLOS arbitration that found no support for their historical titles to the maritime areas and resources within the nine-dash line, without making determinations regarding the sovereignty of the terrestrial islands there.
Malaysia 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 the Sea. Malaysia has militarily occupied five islands that it considers to be within its continental shelf. Swallow Reef (Layang Layang / Terumbu Layang / Pulau Layang Layang) was under control in 1983 and has been turned into an island through a land reclamation which now also hosts a dive resort. The Malaysian military also occupies Ardasier Reef (Terumbu Ubi), and Mariveles Reef (Terumbu Mantanani).
Basis of Malaysia's claim Malaysia's claims are based upon the continental shelf principle, and have clearly defined coordinates within the limits of its EEZ defined in 1979. This argument requires that the islands were res nullius and this requirement 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 Philippines
The Republic of the Philippines claims the Spratly islands and are based on sovereignty over the Spratly Islands on the issues of res nullius and geography.
Basis for the Philippine claim When the Philippines gained independence in 1946, the Philippine nationalists wanted to claim the Spratly Islands. The American advisors, however, discouraged them due to the fact that the Spanish-American Treaty of 1898 clearly stipulated that the western limit of the Philippine islands did not include the Spratlys. The Americans did not want to bring conflict with the Chiang Kai-shek regime in China.
The Philippines contend their claim was res nullius as there was no effective sovereignty over the islands until the 1930s when France and then Japan acquired the islands. 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, according to the claim.
In 1956, a private Filipino citizen, Tomás Cloma, unilaterally declared a state on 53 features in the South China Sea, calling it "Freedomland". In December 1974, Cloma was arrested and forced to sign a document to convey to the Philippines whatever rights he might have had in the territory for one peso. Cloma sold his claim to the Philippine government, which annexed (de jure) the islands in 1978, calling them Kalayaan. On 11 June 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.