South China Research Paper

The South China Sea has been in dispute for many years, but now the tensions are increasing. The conflict between China, United States, and other Asian countries such as Japan, Philippines, and Vietnam question the sovereignty of the South China Sea. An area that the United States believes to be international waters is now being built up with artificial islands. With the sea containing an important trade route, and potentially a supply of oil, the conflict between China and many countries remains, questioning who owns this area and what should be done with it. The United States is not particularly interested in the territorial claims of the South China Sea like the other Asian states, but the freedom of maritime travel and trade can be significantly impacted because of this issue which would affect the United States. Most recently, China responded very negatively to when the USS Lassen got to close to the islands, but the United States will continue to fly and travel near these islands because of suspicion of what China is actually doing on the islands
The Asian countries have fought and argued over what country rightfully owns these islands. Recently, China has begun to build up an island to make it artificially bigger. What China intends to do with the island is unclear, but it may increase and extend its power and influence in the area. The countries involved are in conflict with China who they say is claiming is the islands, which do not all belong to it. With multiple advantages of ownership of the islands and multiple actors in the conflict, mainly Asian countries and the United States, the South China Sea conflict is an intricate dispute with many different layers and ways of viewing