Spratly Islands

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Spratly Islands group of about 100 low islands and coral reefs in the central South China Sea, intersecting busy shipping lanes. The whole group is claimed by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, and parts are claimed by Malaysia and the Philippines. Various islands, valued primarily for the petroleum and gas potential of the surrounding waters and to a lesser degree for their fishing grounds, are occupied by their claimants. In 1984 Brunei established an exclusive economic zone encompassing Louisa Reef, but it has not claimed the islet. There have been many disputes and some fighting, most notably between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels in 1988 and 1992, and the Spratlys remain a source of tension among the claimants. A 2002 agreement between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China called for all claimants to avoid activities that would heighten tensions over the islands. In 2004, China and the Philippines signed agreements to stop illegal fishing and to explore jointly for oil in the islands; the bilateral accord was criticized by Vietnam.

Spratly Islands (Chinese: Nansha; Pilipino: Kalayaan; Vietnamese: Truong Sa)A group of islets and coral reefs dominating the South China Sea and claimed by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. They were first occupied by the French in 1933 and then by the Japanese during the Second World War. They have no indigenous inhabitants. They are said to be named after Richard Spratly, captain of the British whaler, the Cyrus, who sailed in the area in 1843 and reported back to the Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle that year that he had discovered ‘two dangers’: Ladd's Reef and what he called ‘Spratly's Sandy Island’. The British Admiralty agreed the name of Spratly for the island group. The Chinese used the name Nansha Qundao ‘South Sand Archipelago’ from nán, shā ‘sand’ and qúndăo ‘archipelago’ from the 3rd century.