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Congression I Research Serv ct
inknrrnino the k Iativ d bat sico 19 14
Updated August 21, 2023
China Primer: South China Sea Disputes
Overview
Multiple Asian governments assert sovereignty over rocks,
reefs, and other geographic features in the heavily
trafficked South China Sea (SCS), with the People's
Republic of China (PRC or China) arguably making the
most assertive claims. The United States makes no
territorial claim in the SCS and takes no position on
sovereignty over any of the geographic features in the SCS,
but U.S. officials have urged that disputes be settled
without coercion and on the basis of international law.
Separate from the sovereignty disputes, the governments of
the United States, China, and other countries disagree over
what rights international law grants foreign militaries to fly,
sail, and operate in a country's territorial sea or Exclusive
Economic Zone (EEZ). The last several Congresses have
examined China's efforts to use coercion and intimidation
to increase its influence in the SCS and have passed
legislation aimed at improving the ability of the United
States and its partners to protect their interests, including
freedom of navigation and overflight.
The SCS is one of the world's most heavily trafficked
waterways. An estimated $3.4 trillion in ship-borne
commerce transits the sea each year, including energy
supplies to U.S. treaty allies Japan and South Korea.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration,
the SCS contains about 11 billion barrels of oil rated as
proved or probable reserves-a level similar to the
amount of proved oil reserves in Mexico-and 190 trillion
cubic feet of natural gas. The SCS also contains significant
fish stocks, coral, and other undersea resources.
Ongoirg Dk~putes
Disputes over Sovereignty
PRC officials assert indisputable sovereignty over these
islands [of the SCS] and their adjacent waters without
defining adjacent waters. The PRC government depicts
its claims with a nine-dash line (see Figure 1) that
encompasses approximately 62% of the SCS, according to
the U.S. Department of State. (The estimate is based on the
International Hydrographic Organization's definition of the
SCS's geographic limits-a definition cited by the State
Department that includes waters well to the south and west
of the nine-dash line, extending toward the southern part of
the Malay Peninsula.) The PRC has never explained
definitively what the dashed line signifies.
In the northern part of the SCS, China, Taiwan, and
Vietnam contest sovereignty of the Paracel Islands; China
has occupied them since 1974. The PRC and Taiwan also
claim Pratas Island, which Taiwan controls. In the southern
part of the sea, China, Taiwan, and Vietnam each claim all
of the approximately 200 Spratly Islands, while Brunei,
Malaysia, and the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, claim
some of them. Vietnam occupies the most land features in
the island chain; Taiwan occupies the largest. In the eastern
part of the sea, China, Taiwan, and the Philippines claim
Scarborough Shoal; China has controlled it since 2012.
China's nine-dash line and Taiwan's similar eleven-dash
line overlap with the theoretical 200-nautical-mile (nm)
EEZs that five Southeast Asian countries-Brunei,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam-could
claim from their mainland coasts under the 1994 United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Figure 1. The South China Sea
China's Nine-Dash Line&
SIsland and shoal represenzations have been enbarged for
the purposes of visibility.
Source: CRS graphic.
Dispute over Freedom of the Seas
A dispute over how to interpret UNCLOS underlies U.S.-
China tensions over U.S. military operations in and over the
SCS and other waters off China's coast. The United States
and most other countries interpret UNCLOS as giving
coastal states the right to regulate economic activities
within their EEZs, but not the right to regulate navigation
and overflight through the EEZ, including by military ships
and aircraft. China, Vietnam, and some other countries hold
the minority view that UNCLOS allows them to regulate
both economic activity and foreign militaries' navigation
and overflight through their EEZs.
The U.S. Navy routinely operates in the SCS and the
Taiwan Strait, including transits of the Taiwan Strait and
Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) near the
Spratly and Paracel islands to challenge maritime claims
that the United States considers to be excessive. U.S. Air
Force and Navy aircraft fly surveillance and reconnaissance
missions in international airspace above the waters of the
SCS, including airspace that is close to (but outside of)
China's airspace. China regularly conducts military](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govemph0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)