Spratly Islands Dispute
The Spratly Islands group, whose ownership is disputed by the People's Republic of China (PRC), Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan, is located in the middle of the South China Sea, the geostrategic heart of Southeast Asia. The island group includes hundreds of uninhabitable small islands, coral atolls, reefs, and shoals scattered across the South China Sea and covering an area of approximately 180,000 square kilometers. With the possibility of abundant oil and natural gas reserves and marine life resources around the islands, the economic stakes make resolving this territorial dispute challenging.
Further Reading
Catley, Bob, and Makmur Keliat. (1997) Spratlies: The Dispute in the South China Sea. Brookfield, VT: Dartmouth Publishing Co.
Lo, Chi-kin. (1989) China's Policy toward Territorial Disputes: The Case of the South China Sea. London: Routledge.
Samuels, Marwyn S. (1982) Contest for the South China Sea. New York: Methuen.
Valencia, Mark J., Jon M. Van Dyke, and Noel A. Ludwig. (1997) Sharing the Resources of the South China Sea. The Hague, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.
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