South China Sea Dispute - Spratley Islands
What has more than 750 reefs and islands, has been claimed by 5 different countries, and has been the center of political disputes since the 1900s? Answer: the Spratly Islands, located off the coast of the Philippines and Malaysia. This region has been claimed by both of these nations as well as China, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan. Despite the political dilemma synonymous with them, the general American public is mostly unaware that these islands exist.
What can the Spratly Islands have to offer? Combined, they barely have 4 square kilometers of land spread out in over 450,000 square kilometers of sea. This makes the construction of infrastructure almost impossible, making the islands uninhabitable. Yet countries around the Pacific have been constantly claiming islands, disputing their opponents' claims, and using military intimidation for the past 20 years. This is due to the islands' rich marine ecosystem, gas and oil deposits, and ideal location for military strategies. Fortunately, there has been no drastic large-scale military clash between these five countries as of yet. However, there have been smaller incidents where two countries have clashed and used military force to assert their possession over specific islands. For example, the 1988 altercation at Johnson Reef between the Chinese Navy and Vietnamese Navy (Torode 2013) resulted in the deaths of 64 Vietnamese soldiers.
In 2002, China and the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea that aimed "to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force, through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned" (ASEAN 2002). This has created a tense stalemate that can change at any time. Tensions increased when the Sulu Sultanate from the Philippines attacked North Borneo in early March 2013. North Borneo is part of Sabah, a
What can the Spratly Islands have to offer? Combined, they barely have 4 square kilometers of land spread out in over 450,000 square kilometers of sea. This makes the construction of infrastructure almost impossible, making the islands uninhabitable. Yet countries around the Pacific have been constantly claiming islands, disputing their opponents' claims, and using military intimidation for the past 20 years. This is due to the islands' rich marine ecosystem, gas and oil deposits, and ideal location for military strategies. Fortunately, there has been no drastic large-scale military clash between these five countries as of yet. However, there have been smaller incidents where two countries have clashed and used military force to assert their possession over specific islands. For example, the 1988 altercation at Johnson Reef between the Chinese Navy and Vietnamese Navy (Torode 2013) resulted in the deaths of 64 Vietnamese soldiers.
In 2002, China and the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea that aimed "to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force, through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned" (ASEAN 2002). This has created a tense stalemate that can change at any time. Tensions increased when the Sulu Sultanate from the Philippines attacked North Borneo in early March 2013. North Borneo is part of Sabah, a