Spratly Issue Essay

655 Words3 Pages
Spratly Issue The Spratly Islands are Islands that are near the island of Palwan. They compose more than 100 small islands and reefs. Among these 100 islands, 45 are occupied by different countries namely China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. The main location of these Islands are found in the South China Sea or which we call “West Philippine Sea” here in the Philippines. The islands can be found in the coordinates of 8’38 N and 111’55 E. Its total land only comprises about 5 km.Therefore, no arable land is readily available. The main livelihood of the people in Spratly islands is fishing since the small islands and reefs are surrounded by a big mass of water thus giving more space to fish. In the recent years, explorations have been set out to see wether oil deposits does really exist. Fortunately, oil has been found. In line with this, many territorial disputes have risen because of the oil deposit Spratly contains. The islands are claimed by China wholly as part of their territory. Their basis for their claim is that they first founded the Islands around 200BC during the Han Dynasty. Around 220 AD, some Chinese monks settled in the islands to guard it. In the year 789 AD, China added the Spratly Islands to their territorial map. By the year 1885, China officially declared that that completely own the Spratly Islands. This was due to different countries also trying to claim the Spartly Islands for themselves. In the year 1946, the Chinese declared that the Spratly Islands are part of the Guangdong province. After all the islands around Spratlys, the neighboring islands which is called the Paracel Islands are also claimed by the Chinese from the Vietnamese. China also said that due to the distance from the Paracel Islands, the islands do really belong to the Chinese. Recently, the Chinese placed the Spratly Islands under the administrative
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