.
The
South China Sea is a
marginal sea of the
Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of
South China (hence the name), in the west by the
Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of
Taiwan and northwestern
Philippines (mainly
Luzon,
Mindoro and
Palawan), and in the south by
Borneo,
eastern Sumatra and the
Bangka Belitung Islands, encompassing an area of around
3,500,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi). It communicates with the
East China Sea via the
Taiwan Strait, the
Philippine Sea via the
Luzon Strait, the
Sulu Sea via the
straits around Palawan (e.g. the
Mindoro and Balabac Strait), the
Strait of Malacca via the
Strait of Singapore, and the
Java Sea via the
Karimata and Bangka Strait. The
Gulf of Tonkin is also part of the South China Sea, and the shallow waters south of the
Riau Islands are also known as the
Natuna Sea.
The South China Sea is a region of
tremendous economic and geostrategic importance.
One-third of the world's
maritime shipping passes through it, carrying over US$3 trillion in trade each year.
Huge oil and natural gas reserves are believed to lie beneath its seabed. It also contain
lucrative fisheries, which are crucial for the
food security of millions in
Southeast Asia.
The
South China Sea Islands, collectively comprising several
archipelago clusters of mostly small uninhabited
islands, islets (cays and shoals), reefs/atolls and
seamounts numbering in the hundreds, are subject to
competing claims of sovereignty by several countries. These claims are also reflected in the variety of names used for the islands and the sea.
The
Strait of Malacca (
Malay: Selat Melaka,
Indonesian: Selat Malaka,
Thai: ช่องแคบมะละกา,
Tamil: மலாக்கா நீரிணை, Malākkā nīriṇai,
Chinese: 馬六甲海峽/马六甲海峡) or
Straits of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water,
580 mi (930 km) in length, between the
Malay Peninsula (
Peninsular Malaysia) and the
Indonesian island of Sumatra. As the
main shipping channel between the
Indian Ocean and the
Pacific Ocean, it is one of the most important
shipping lanes in the world. It is named after the
Malacca Sultanate that ruled over the
archipelago between 1400 and 1511, the center of administration of which was located in the modern-day state of
Malacca,
Malaysia.
From an economic and strategic perspective, the Strait of Malacca is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world.
The strait is the main shipping channel between the
Indian Ocean and the
Pacific Ocean, linking major Asian economies such as
India,
Thailand,
Indonesia,
Malaysia,
Philippines,
Singapore,
China,
Japan,
Taiwan, and
South Korea. The Strait of Malacca is part of the
Maritime Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast towards the southern tip of
India to
Mombasa, from there through the Red Sea via the
Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, there to the Upper Adriatic region to the northern Italian hub of
Trieste with its rail connections to
Central Europe and the
North Sea. Over
94,000 vessels pass through the strait each year (
2008) making it the
busiest strait in the world, carrying about
25% of the world's traded goods, including
oil, Chinese manufactured products, coal, palm oil and Indonesian coffee. About a
quarter of all oil carried by sea passes through the Strait, mainly from
Persian Gulf suppliers to Asian markets. In
2007, an estimated 13.7 million
barrels per day were transported through the strait, increasing to an estimated 15.2 million
barrels per day in
2011. In addition, it is also
one of the world's most congested shipping choke points because it narrows to only
2.8 km (1.5 nautical miles) wide at the
Phillip Channel (close to the south of
Singapore).
The
maximum size (specifically
draught) of a vessel that can pass through the Strait is referred to as
Malaccamax, that is, for some of the world's largest ships (mostly
oil tankers), the Strait's minimum depth (25 metres or 82 feet) is not deep enough. This is determined by the
relatively shallow Singapore Strait, which provides passage to the
Karimata Strait in the east. The next closest passageway (the
Sunda Strait between
Sumatra and Java) is
even more shallow and narrow. Therefore, ships
exceeding the Malaccamax must
detour a few thousand nautical miles and use the
Lombok Strait, Makassar Strait, Sibutu Passage, and Mindoro Strait instead.
Piracy has been a
problem in the strait. Piracy had been high in the 2000s, with additional increase after the events of
September 11, 2001. After attacks rose again in the first half of 2004, regional navies stepped up their patrols of the area in July 2004. Subsequently, attacks on ships in the Strait of Malacca dropped, to 79 in 2005 and 50 in 2006. Reports indicate that attacks have dropped to
near-zero levels in recent years.
There are
34 shipwrecks, some dating to the 1880s, in the local TSS channel (the channel for commercial ships under the global
Traffic Separation Scheme). These pose a
collision hazard in the
narrow and shallow strait.
On 20 August 2017, the
United States Navy destroyer USS John S. McCain lost ten of its crew's lives in a collision with the merchant ship
Alnic MC a short distance east of the strait whilst full steering capabilities had been lost and making a series of errors in attempted mitigation, its external lights being changed to "red over red" ("vessel not under command").
Another risk is the
annual haze due to
bush fires in Sumatra,
Indonesia. It may
reduce visibility to
200 metres (660 ft), forcing ships to slow down in the busy strait. The strait is frequently used by
ships longer than 350 metres (1,150 ft).
Thai Canal:
Thailand has developed plans to divert much of the strait's traffic and hence some of its economic significance to a shorter route: the Thai government has several times proposed
cutting a canal through the
Isthmus of Kra, saving around 960 kilometres (600 mi) from the journey between the two oceans.
China has offered to cover the costs, according to a report leaked to
The Washington Times in 2004. Nevertheless, and despite the support of several Thai politicians, the
prohibitive financial and ecological costs suggest that such a canal will
not be built.
An alternative is to install a
pipeline across the
Isthmus of Kra to carry oil to ships waiting on the other side. Proponents calculate it would cut the cost of oil delivery to
Asia by about
$0.50/barrel ($3/m3).
Myanmar has also made a similar pipeline proposal.
The
South China Sea disputes involve both island and maritime claims by several
sovereign states within the region, namely
Brunei, the
People's Republic of China (PRC),
Taiwan (Republic of China/ROC),
Indonesia,
Malaysia, the
Philippines, and
Vietnam. An estimated
US$3.37 trillion worth of
global trade passes through the South China Sea annually, which accounts for a
third of the global maritime trade.
80 percent of China's energy imports and
39.5 percent of China's total trade passes through the South China Sea.
The
disputes involve the
islands, reefs, banks, and other features of the South China Sea, including the
Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, Scarborough Shoal, and various boundaries in the
Gulf of Tonkin. There are further disputes, such as the waters near the
Indonesian Natuna Islands, which many do not regard as part of the South China Sea. Claimant states are interested in retaining or acquiring the rights to
fishing stocks, the exploration and potential exploitation of
crude oil and natural gas in the seabed of various parts of the South China Sea, and the
strategic control of important shipping lanes.
Since
2013, the
PRC has resorted to
island building in the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands region. According to Reuters, island building in the South China Sea primarily by Vietnam and the Philippines has been going on for decades; while China has come late to the island building game, its efforts have been on an unprecedented scale as it had from
2014 to 2016 constructed more new island surface than all other nations have
constructed throughout history and as of 2016 placed
military equipment on one of its artificial islands unlike the other claimants. A 2019 article in
Voice of America that compared China and Vietnam's island building campaign in the South China Sea similarly noted that the reason why
Vietnam in contradistinction to China has been subject to little international criticism and even support was because of the
slower speed and
widely perceived defensive nature of its island-building project.
China's actions in the South China Sea have been described as part of its
"salami slicing" strategy, and since 2015 the United States and other states such as
France and the
United Kingdom have conducted
freedom of navigation operations (FONOP) in the region. In July 2016, an arbitration tribunal constituted under Annex VII of the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) ruled against the PRC's maritime claims in
Philippines v. China. The tribunal did not rule on the ownership of the islands or delimit maritime boundaries. Both the
People's Republic of China and the
Republic of China (Taiwan) stated that they
did not recognize the tribunal and insisted that the matter should be resolved through bilateral negotiations with other claimants. On
September 17, 2020,
France, Germany, and the
United Kingdom issued a joint
note verbale recognizing the PCA ruling and
challenging China's claims.
