The South China Sea is a marginal sea south of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from Singapore to the Strait of Taiwan of around 3,500,000 km². It is one of the largest sea bodies after the five oceans. The minute South China Sea Islands, collectively an archipelago, number in the hundreds. The sea and its mostly uninhabited islands are subject to several competing claims of sovereignty by neighboring nations. These competing claims are also reflected in the variety of names used for the islands and the sea. Traditional Chinese characters refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Simplified Chinese character (Simplified Chinese: or ; traditional Chinese: or ; pinyin: or ) is one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of the contemporary Chinese written language. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Map of eastern China and Taiwan, showing the historic distribution of Mandarin Chinese in light brown. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... This article is about all of the Cantonese (Yue) dialects. ... Jyutping (sometimes spelled Jyutpin) is a romanization system for Standard Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK) in 1993. ... Tagalog (pronunciation: ) is one of the major languages of the Republic of the Philippines. ... Not to be confused with the Malayalam language, spoken in India. ... A marginal sea is a part of ocean partially enclosed by land such as islands, archipelagos, or peninsulas. ... Categories: China geography stubs ... Ocean (Okeanos, a Greek god of sea and water; Greek ωκεανός) covers almost three quarters (71%) of the surface of the Earth. ... The South China Sea Islands (or Nanhai Islands, simplified: 南海诸岛, traditional: 南海諸島, pinyin: NánhÇŽi ZhÅ«dÇŽo) consist of over 250 around 1-km² islands, atolls, cays, shoals, reefs, and sandbars in the South China Sea, most of which have no indigenous people, many of which are naturally under water... The Mergui Archipelago The Archipelago Sea, situated between the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland, the largest archipelago in the world by the number of islands. ... “Sovereign” redirects here. ...

Names for the sea

Sunset on the South China Sea off Mui Ne village on the south-east coast of Vietnam

South China Sea is the dominant term used in English for the sea, and the name in most European languages is equivalent, but it is sometimes called by different names in neighboring countries, often reflecting historical claims to hegemony over the sea. Mui Ne (Mũi Né) is a coastal resort town in Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam, located on an arm of the South China Sea. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

The English name is a result of early European interest in the sea as a route from Europe and South Asia to the trading opportunities of China. In the sixteenth century Portuguese sailors called it the China Sea (Mare da China); later needs to differentiate it from nearby bodies of water lead to calling it the South China Sea.^[1] For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Map of South Asia (see note on Kashmir). ...

In China, the traditional name for the sea is Southern Sea (南海; Nán Hǎi). In contemporary Chinese publications, it is commonly called South China Sea (南中國海, Nán Zhōnggúo Hǎi), and this name is often used in English-language maps published by China.

In Vietnam, it is called the Eastern Sea (Biển Đông); this name is sometimes used by Vietnamese mapmakers in foreign-language publications.^[1]

The part of the South China Sea within Philippine territorial waters is often given the name "Luzon Sea" (Dagat Luzon) in maps published in the country, after the major Philippine island of Luzon. However, the name "South China Sea" (Timog Dagat Tsina) is still the accepted name for the whole sea in the Philippines. Map of the Philippines showing the island groups of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. ...

In Southeast Asia, it was once called the Champa Sea or Sea of Cham, after the maritime kingdom that flourished before the sixteenth century. South East Asia circa 1100 C.E. Champa territory in green. ...

Geography

The International Hydrographic Organization defines the sea as stretching in a southwest to northeast direction, whose southern border is 3 degrees South latitude between South Sumatra and Kalimantan (Karimata Strait), and whose northern border is the Strait of Taiwan from the northern tip of Taiwan to the Fujian coast of mainland China. The Gulf of Thailand covers the western portion of the South China Sea. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) is an intergovernmental international organization established in 1921. ... For other uses, see Sumatra (disambiguation). ... Map of Kalimantan (white color) and its subdivisions. ... The Karimata Strait is the wide strait that connects the South China Sea to the Java Sea, between the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia. ... Categories: China geography stubs ...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Fu-chien; Postal map spelling: Fukien, Foukien; local transliteration Hokkien from Min Nan Hok-kiàn) is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ... ... The Gulf of Thailand is a gulf located in the South China Sea (Pacific Ocean), surrounded by the countries Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. ...

The sea lies above a drowned continental shelf; during recent ice ages global sea level was hundreds of meters lower, and Borneo was part of the Asian mainland.  Sediment  Rock  Mantle  The global continental shelf, highlighted in cyan The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain, which is covered during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas (known as shelf seas) and gulfs. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ... Φ Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. ...

States and territories with borders on the sea (clockwise from north) include: the mainland China, Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. ...

Major rivers that flow into the South China Sea include the Pearl, Min, Jiulong, Red, Mekong, Rajang, Pahang, and Pasig Rivers. Pearl River in Guangzhou Pearl River at night, Guangzhou The Zhu Jiang, (Chinese: 珠江 Pinyin: ZhÅ« Jiāng), or Pearl River or less commonly the Canton River, is Chinas third longest river (2,200 km, after the Yangtze River and the Yellow River), and second largest by volume (after the... Minjiang, when written without tone marks, is the name of either of two rivers in China, each with its own Chinese character and pinyin pronounciation: Minjiang River (Sichuan), written 岷江 and pronounced Mínjiāng; Minjiang River (Fujian), written 闽江 and pronounced Mǐnjiāng. ... Jiulong River or Jiulong Jiang is the largest river in southern Fujian, and the second largest in Fujian, China. ... Flowing from China through Vietnam to the South China Sea, the Red River (Vietnamese Sông Hồng, Chinese Hónghé) is also known as the Yuan Jiang (元江, pinyin yuan2jiang1), which means Primary River. ... The Mekong is one of the world’s major rivers. ... The Rajang River is a river in East Malaysia, in northwest Borneo. ... Pahang River or (Sungai Pahang in Malay) is a river in the state of Pahang, Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula. ... The Pasig River is a river in the Philippines and connects Laguna de Bay via the Napindan Channel into Manila Bay. ...

Geology

The South China Sea opened after around 45 million years ago when the Dangerous Grounds were rifted away from southern China. Extension culminated in seafloor spreading around 30 million years ago, a process that propagated to the SW resulting in the V-shaped basin we see today. Extension ceased around 17 million years ago. Arguments have continued about the role of tectonic extrusion in forming the basin. Paul Tapponnier and colleagues have argued that as India collides with Asia it pushes Indochina to the SE. The relative shear between Indochina and China caused the South China Sea to open. This view is disputed by geologists who do not consider Indochina to have moved far relative to mainland Asia. Recent marine geophysical studies by Peter Clift has shown that the Red River Fault was active and causing basin formation at least by 37 million years ago in the NW South China Sea, consistent with extrusion playing a part in the formation of the sea. Since opening the South China Sea has been the repository of large sediment volumes delivered by the Mekong River, Red River and Pearl River. Several of these deltas are rich in oil and gas deposits. hfajhfiudshfas == == == --24. ... Age of oceanic crust. ... Paul Tapponnier was born on January 6, 1947 in Annecy, France. ... Indochina 1886 Indochina, or the Indochinese Peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. ... Peter Clift is a marine geologist specializing in the geology of Asia and the western Pacific. ... View of the Mekong before the sunset The Mekong is one of the worlds major rivers. ... Flowing from China through Vietnam to the South China Sea, the Red River (Vietnamese Sông Hồng, Chinese Hónghé) is also known as the Yuan Jiang (元江, pinyin yuan2jiang1), which means Primary River. ... The are two Pearl Rivers: The Pearl River (China) (See also the Pearl River Delta) The Pearl River in the U.S. states of Mississippi and Louisiana Pearl River is also the name of some places in the United States of America: Pearl River, Louisiana Pearl River, Mississippi Pearl River...

Islands and seamounts

Main articles: South China Sea Islands and list of islands in the South China Sea

Within the sea, there are over 200 identified islands and reefs, most of them within the Spratly Islands. The Spratly Islands spread over an 810 by 900 km area covering some 175 identified insular features, the largest being Taiping Island (Itu Aba) at just over 1.3 km long and with its highest elevation at 3.8 metres. The South China Sea Islands (or Nanhai Islands, simplified: 南海诸岛, traditional: 南海諸島, pinyin: NánhÇŽi ZhÅ«dÇŽo) consist of over 250 around 1-km² islands, atolls, cays, shoals, reefs, and sandbars in the South China Sea, most of which have no indigenous people, many of which are naturally under water... Islands in the South China Sea includes the South China Sea Islands (Spratly Islands, Pratas Islands, Paracel Islands and Macclesfield Bank), islands on the China coast, on the Vietnam coast, on the Borneo coast, and the peripheral islands of Taiwan, the Philippines, etc. ... Taiping (also Itu Aba, Chinese: 太平島) is the largest island of Nansha Islands (Spratly Islands) in the South China Sea. ...

The largest singular feature in the area of the Spratly Islands is a 100 km wide seamount called Reed Tablemount, also known as Reed Bank, in the northeast of the group, separated from Palawan Island of the Philippines by the Palawan Trench. Now completely submerged, with a depth of 20 m, it was an island until it sunk about 7,000 years ago due to the increasing sea level after the last ice age. With an area of 8,866 km², it is one of the largest submerged atoll structures of the world. A seamount is a mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the waters surface (sea level), and thus is not an island. ... Palawan is an island province of the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ... Portion of a Pacific atoll showing two islets on the ribbon or barrier reef separated by a deep pass between the ocean and the lagoon. ...

Resources

It is an extremely significant body of water in a geopolitical sense. It is the second most used sea lane in the world, while in terms of world annual merchant fleet tonnage, over 50% passes through the Strait of Malacca, the Sunda Strait, and the Lombok Strait. Over 1.6 million m³ (10 million barrels) of crude oil a day are shipped through the Strait of Malacca, where there are regular reports of piracy, but much less frequently than before the mid-20th century. A sea lane is regularly used route for ocean-going vessels. ... A close-up map showing the Strait of Malacca separating peninsular Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. ... The Sunda Strait The Sunda Strait is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. ... The Lombok Strait is a strait connecting the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean, located between the islands of Bali and Lombok. ... Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario Petroleum (from Greek petra – rock and elaion – oil or Latin oleum – oil ) or crude oil is a thick, dark brown or greenish liquid. ... This article is about the state in Malaysia. ... This article is about maritime piracy. ...

The region has proven oil reserves of around 1.2 km³ (7.7 billion barrels), with an estimate of 4.5 km³ (28 billion barrels) in total. Natural gas reserves are estimated to total around 7,500 km³ (266 trillion cubic feet). Petro redirects here. ... “bbl” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Natural gas (disambiguation). ...

According to studies made by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Philippines, this body of water holds one third of the all world's marine biodiversity, thereby making it a very important area for the ecosystem.

Territorial claims

Competing territorial claims over the South China Sea and its resources are numerous. Because the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea allows for a country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to extend 200 nm (370.6 km) beyond territorial waters, all the nations surrounding the sea can lay claim to great portions of it. The People's Republic of China (PRC) has stated its claim to almost the entire body. Areas with potential problems include: UN redirects here. ... Admiralty law (usually referred to as simply admiralty and also referred to as maritime law) is a distinct body of law which governs maritime questions and offenses. ... Sea areas in international rights Under the law of the sea, an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a seazone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources. ...

• Indonesia and the PRC over waters NE of the Natuna Islands.
• The Philippines and the PRC over the Malampaya and Camago gas fields.
• The Philippines and the PRC over Scarborough Shoal.
• Vietnam and the PRC over waters west of the Spratly Islands. Some or all of the islands themselves are also disputed between Vietnam, the PRC, the ROC, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
• The Paracel Islands are disputed between the PRC/ROC and Vietnam.
• Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam over areas in the Gulf of Thailand.
• Singapore and Malaysia along the Strait of Johore and the Strait of Singapore.

The PRC and Vietnam have both been vigorous in prosecuting their claims. The Paracel Islands was seized by China in 1974 and 18 soldiers were killed. The Spratly Islands have been the site of a naval clash, in which over seventy Vietnamese sailors were killed just south of Chigua Reef in March 1988. Disputing claimants regularly report clashes between naval vessels. The Scarborough Shoal, more correctly described as a group of islands, atolls, and reefs then a shoal, is located in the Luzon Sea (South China Sea). ... The Gulf of Thailand is a gulf located in the South China Sea (Pacific Ocean), surrounded by the countries Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. ...

ASEAN in general, and Malaysia in particular, has been keen to ensure that the territorial disputes within the South China Sea do not escalate into armed conflict. As such, Joint Development Authorities have been setup in areas of overlapping claims to jointly develop the area and dividing the profits equally without settling the issue of sovereignty over the area. This is true, particularly in the Gulf of Thailand. ASEAN[1], pronounced // (AH-SEE-AHN) in English, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a geo-political and economic organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia, which was formed on August 8, 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand[2] as a display of solidarity...

The overlapping claims over Pedra Branca or Pulau Batu Putih by both Singapore and Malaysia has been brought to the International Court of Justice and the public portion of the case was heard over November 6-23, 2007, a decision is expected in 2008. Pedra Branca or Pulau Batu Puteh (both meaning white rock in Portuguese and Malay respectively) is an outcrop of rocks situated where the Singapore Strait, specifically Straits of Johor, meets the South China Sea, measuring at its longest, during low water spring tide, a mere 137 meters. ... Pedra Branca or Pulau Batu Puteh (both meaning white rock in Portuguese and Malay respectively) is an outcrop of rocks situated where the Singapore Strait, specifically Straits of Johor, meets the South China Sea, measuring at its longest, during low water spring tide, a mere 137 meters. ... The International Court of Justice (known colloquially as the World Court or ICJ; French: ) is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. ...

See also

• List of islands in the South China Sea
• South China Sea Islands
• East China Sea

Islands in the South China Sea includes the South China Sea Islands (Spratly Islands, Pratas Islands, Paracel Islands and Macclesfield Bank), islands on the China coast, on the Vietnam coast, on the Borneo coast, and the peripheral islands of Taiwan, the Philippines, etc. ... The South China Sea Islands (or Nanhai Islands, simplified: 南海诸岛, traditional: 南海諸島, pinyin: Nánhǎi Zhūdǎo) consist of over 250 around 1-km² islands, atolls, cays, shoals, reefs, and sandbars in the South China Sea, most of which have no indigenous people, many of which are naturally under water... For other uses, see East Sea (Chinese mythology). ...

References

Further reading

• UNEP (2007). Review of the Legal Aspects of Environmental Management in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand. UNEP/GEF/SCS Technical Publication No. 9.
• Zou, Keyan (2005). Law of the sea in East Asia: issues and prospects. London/New York: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0-415-35074-3

External links

• The South China Sea on Google Earth - featured on Google Earth's Official Blog
• South China Sea Virtual Library - online resource for students, scholars and policy-makers interested in South China Sea regional development, environment, and security issues.
• Energy Information Administration - The South China Sea
• Tropical Research and Conservation Centre - The South China Sea
• Weekly Piracy Report
• Reversing Environmental Degradation Trends in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand
• UNEP/GEF South China Sea Knowledge Documents

Coordinates: 12°11′N, 113°13′E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...