Spratlys
The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed of islands, islets, cays, and more than 100 reefs, sometimes grouped in submerged old atolls, the archipelago lies off the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia, and southern Vietnam. Named after the 19th-century British whaling captain Richard Spratly who sighted Spratly Island in 1843, the islands contain less than of naturally occurring land area, which is spread over an area of more than . The Spratly Islands are one of the major archipelagos in the South China Sea which complicate governance and economics in this part of Southeast Asia due to their location in strategic shipping lanes. The islands are largely uninhabited, but offer rich fishing grounds and may contain significant oil and natural gas reserves,Owen, N. A. and C. H. Schof ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Spratly Islands In The South China Sea Department Of State Map 2016587286 (2015)
The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed of islands, islets, cays, and more than 100 reefs, sometimes grouped in submerged old atolls, the archipelago lies off the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia, and southern Vietnam. Named after the 19th-century British whaling captain Richard Spratly who sighted Spratly Island in 1843, the islands contain less than of naturally occurring land area, which is spread over an area of more than . The Spratly Islands are one of the major archipelagos in the South China Sea which complicate governance and economics in this part of Southeast Asia due to their location in strategic shipping lanes. The islands are largely uninhabited, but offer rich fishing grounds and may contain significant oil and natural gas reserves,Owen, N. A. and C. H. Schofi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thitu Island
Thitu Island, also known as Pag-asa Island ( tl, Pulo ng Pag-asa, lit=Island of Hope; pag, Ilalo, having an area of , is the second largest of the naturally occurringNote that in 2014 the PRC embarked on a number of reclamation projects in the Spratly Islands. It appears that the largest of these, at Fiery Cross Reef, is of at least 60 hectares, and according to some unverifiable sources, possibly as large as 150 hectares. Spratly Islands and the largest of the Philippine-administered islands. It lies about west of Puerto Princesa. Its neighbors are the North Danger Reef to the north, Subi Reef to the west, and the Loaita and Tizard Banks to the south. As the poblacion (administrative center) of the Kalayaan municipality of Palawan province in the Philippines, it also administers nearly a dozen other islets, cays and reefs in the Spratly Islands. Vietnam also claims the island. In 2019–20, the island's naval port and civilian-military airstrip were upgraded despite bein ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Southwest Cay
Southwest Cay, also known as vi, Đảo Song Tử Tây; Pugad Island ( fil, Pulo ng Pugad, lit=Island of Nest); Mandarin , is an islet on the northwestern edge of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. It is part of the atoll North Danger Reef, and just southwest of Northeast Cay. With an area of , it is the sixth largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands, and the second largest of the Vietnamese-occupied islands. Southwest Cay has the archipelago's highest point, at 4 meters above sea level. It was once a breeding place for birds, and was covered with trees and guano; export of guano had been carried out "on a considerable scale". The island is also claimed by China (PRC), Taiwan (ROC), and the Philippines. History 1933 – French possession In 1933, the French Government took possession of the Spratly Islands including Southwest Cay and Northeast Cay. Three ships, the ''Alerte'', the ''Astrolabe'' and the ''De Lanessan'' took part in the expedition. The foll ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Itu Aba Island
Taiping Island, also known as Itu Aba, and also known by various other names, is List of maritime features in the Spratly Islands#Features by area, the largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The island is elliptical in shape being in length and in width, with an area of . It is located on the northern edge of the Tizard Bank (Zheng He Reefs; 鄭和群礁). The runway of the Taiping Island Airport is easily the most prominent feature on the island, running its entire length. The island is administered by the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan), as part of Cijin District, Kaohsiung, Cijin, Kaohsiung. It is also claimed by the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), the Philippines and Vietnam. In 2016, in the ruling by an arbitral tribunal in the Intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Permanent Court of Arbitration, in the case brought by the Philippines vs. China, Philippines against China, the tribunal classified Itu Aba as a "rock ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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South China Sea
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 . 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 Straits), the Strait of Malacca via the Singapore Strait, and the Java Sea via the Karimata and Bangka Straits. The Gulf of Thailand and the Gulf of Tonkin are also part of the South China Sea. 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 passe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Spratly Island
Spratly Island, also known as Storm Island ( vi, Đảo Trường Sa Lớn; ; ), is the fourth largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands in the South China Sea with an area of , and the largest of the Vietnamese-administered Spratly islands. In 2016 the Vietnamese embarked on a land reclamation program at ten locations in the Spratly Islands. At Spratly Island 37 acres have been reclaimed, which has allowed for the addition of a harbour and the doubling of the length of the island's runway to a length of about . It is also claimed by China (PRC) and Taiwan (ROC). Location Spratly island lies west of the SW of Dangerous Ground in the western half of the Spratly Islands. It is neighboured by Ladd Reef to the west, the London Reefs to the east, and others. History in the 20th century In April 1930, France sent the dispatch boat ''(aviso)'', ''la Malicieuse'', to the archipelago and raised the flag of France on a high mound on Spratly Island, also known as ''île de ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dangerous Ground (South China Sea)
Dangerous Ground is a large area in the southeast part of the South China Sea characterized by many low islands and cays, sunken reefs, and atolls awash, with reefs often rising abruptly from ocean depths greater than 1000m. There are few precise definitions, but Dangerous Ground corresponds roughly to the seas around the eastern half of the Spratly Islands. It is an oblong area running southwest to northeast for about 340 nautical miles (nm) (630 km), 175 nm (324 km) at its widest, with an area of about 52,000 nm² (178,000 km2). It is west of Palawan island and northwest of the Palawan Passage. It lies approximately between 7.5 and 12°N, 113–117°E. The US NGA literatureetc. seems to consider its centre as . The area is poorly charted, making it exceptionally dangerous to navigate – the major Singapore-to-Hong-Kong routes go well to the westhttp://www.oceangrafix.com/chart/zoom?chart=93022 Western SCS and east of the area. The Admiralty Sailing ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Northeast Cay
Northeast Cay, also known as Parola Island ( fil, Pulo ng Parola, lit=Island of heLighthouse; Mandarin ; vi, Đảo Song Tử Đông), with a land area of , is the fifth largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands and the third largest of the Philippine-occupied islands. It is part of the North Danger Reef and is located to the northwest of Dangerous Ground. It is north of Vietnamese-occupied Southwest Cay ( tl, Pugad), and they are visible from each other. It is located northwest of Philippine-occupied Thitu Island (Pag-asa), and is administered by the Philippines as part of Kalayaan, Palawan. The island is also claimed by the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Vietnam. Environment Some of the cay's outcrops are visible on its western side. It has high salinity groundwater and vegetation is limited to beach type of plants. The corals around the island were mostly destroyed by dynamite and cyanide fishing methods. It is covered with grass ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Malay Language
Malay (; ms, Bahasa Melayu, links=no, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Rejang script, Rencong: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language that is an official language of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and that is also spoken in East Timor and parts of the Philippines and Thailand. Altogether, it is spoken by 290 million people (around 260 million in Indonesia alone in its own literary standard named "Indonesian language, Indonesian") across Maritime Southeast Asia. As the or ("national language") of several states, Standard Malay has various official names. In Malaysia, it is designated as either ("Malaysian Malay") or also ("Malay language"). In Singapore and Brunei, it is called ("Malay language"). In Indonesia, an autonomous normative variety called ("Indonesian language") is designated the ("unifying language" or lingua franca). However, in areas of Central to Southern Sumatra, where vernacular varieties of Malay are indigenous, Indonesians refe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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West York Island
West York Island, also known as Likas Island ( fil, Pulo ng Likas, lit=Island of Naturality; Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin ; ), and several other names. With an area of , it is the List of Spratly Islands by area, third largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands, and the second largest (after Thitu Island) of the Philippines, Philippine-Military occupation, occupied islands. It is wide, long, and its highest elevation is . The island is administered by the Philippines as part of Kalayaan, Palawan; it is located 47 miles (76 km) northeast of Pagasa Island (Thitu Island), the location of the Philippine defined major town of Kalayaan. Filipino soldiers are stationed on the island. The island is also claimed by the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Vietnam. Structures and environment West York Island is covered with low vegetation and scrubland, scrub. Outcrops are visible on the southern and eastern portion of the island during low tides. It ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tizard Bank
The Tizard Bank, is a partially sunken atoll and one of the significant maritime features of the north-western part of the Spratly Islands. It is claimed by the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, and Vietnam, and various parts of it are occupied by these states. It was named after Thomas Henry Tizard (1839 – 17 February 1924), a British oceanographer and surveyor who surveyed the bank from aboard HMS ''Rifleman'' in the 1860s. In 1947 the Republic of China government gave the bank the name Zheng He Archipelago after the famous Ming-era admiral, although there is no evidence that he ever visited Tizard Bank. From before the 1870s the islands were used by fishermen from Hainan with Itu Aba Island having a semi-permanent settlement of Chinese fishermen. The bank rises steeply from surrounding depths ranging from 500 to 700 meters. It is in length, and extends west from the Gaven Reefs to the NW of Dangerous Ground. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Commercial Fishing
Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often pursue fish far into the ocean under adverse conditions. Large-scale commercial fishing is also known as industrial fishing. The major fishing industries are not only owned by major corporations but by small families as well. In order to adapt to declining fish populations and increased demand, many commercial fishing operations have reduced the sustainability of their harvest by fishing further down the food chain. This raises concern for fishery managers and researchers, who highlight how further they say that for those reasons, the sustainability of the marine ecosystems could be in danger of collapsing. Commercial fishermen harvest a wide variety of animals. However, a very small number of species support the majority of the world ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |