THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC of China (PRC) is just one of the many nations claiming sovereignty over the widespread groups of tiny islets, reefs, and atolls in the Pratas islands (Dongsha in Chinese), Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Dao), Macclesfield Bank (Zhong- sha), Paracel islands (Xisha), and Spratly islands (Nansha), known collectively as the South China Sea (SCS) (see Map 1 below). This territorial dispute has become a major concern to the nations of Southeast Asia and a potential threat to regional security. As such, it also poses serious legal, strategic, and military questions for the United States government.

This book seeks to examine both the historical creation of China's sea borders with its SCS neighbors and provide critical analysis of contemporary border problems and military tensions. In those cases where these maritime boundaries have been settled it will discuss exactly how these disputes have been solved, as well as examine possible strategies for resolving any further conflicts. In July 2016, a UN tribunal “rejected the PRC's argument that it enjoys historic rights over most of the South China Sea.” Given this recent UN decision, each chapter will also discuss how this ruling might impact China's economic, diplomatic, and cultural policies with these neighboring countries so as to evaluate Beijing's overall maritime strategy in the SCS.

Several SCS countries including China have resorted to force to uphold their claims. These operations resulted in the occupation of many islands by small military garrisons, thus making the area potentially volatile and a major security concern for many other nations in the region. Developments in military technology, including the recent availability of modern, high-tech aircraft, ships, and missiles - many acquired from Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union - are giving the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) new capabilities for sea, undersea, air, and shore combat that make it possible for the first time for the Chinese to attack, overwhelm, and thereby neutralize key non-Chinese held islands in the SCS. A reexamination of China's maritime strategy is particularly important in light of the momentous developments that have occurred in the SCS over the past two decades.