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Emerging Issues: The Underlying Economics Of The South China Sea Conflict, Christopher Stock

University of Baltimore Journal of International Law

The countries of southeastern Asia and China are currently in a territorial dispute over the Spratly and Paracel island chains in the South China Sea. The South China Sea encompasses roughly 1.4 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean, spanning throughout most of southeastern Asia. A majority of the islands located within the sea are uninhabited and have never had an indigenous population, which makes it nearly impossible to track the lineage to determine sovereignty over the islands. Because there has never been an indigenous population on a majority of the islands, there are now competing claims for many of …