ABSTRACT
While territorial disputes in the South China Sea have existed for decades, recent confrontations among China, the Philippines, and Vietnam have sparked global concerns of the region becoming a new flashpoint with serious security consequences. Six countries – China, Taiwan (Republic of China, ROC), Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei – have made territorial claims over the South China Sea or its two major archipelagos, the Spratly and Paracel Islands. Indonesia does not claim sovereignty over any of the disputed area but its Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) around the Natuna Islands overlap with Chinese (and Taiwanese) claims in the South China Sea.
