Brief History of the Maritime Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea
I thought that it is important to have the history of the current tensions in the South China Sea so as to have the correct context as to why these disputes arose. So, here's a brief outline that I put together with some brief research (Wikipedia links are used for convenience). Do feel free to contribute.
1947 - Nationalist China, under KMT, drew 11 dots to lay out its claims in the South China Sea. This eventually became the current 9-dashed line claim.
Asia Times Online :: Southeast Asia news and business from Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam
1974 - Battle of Paracel Islands. Near the end of the Vietnam War, PRC troops seized the Paracel Islands from the South Vietnamese. Following the end of the Vietnam War, Vietnam disputed PRC's ownership of the Paracel Islands.
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Paracel_Islands"]Battle of the Paracel Islands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
1988 - Johnson South Reef Skirmish between Vietnam and PRC. Vietnam lost.
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_South_Reef_Skirmish"]Johnson South Reef Skirmish - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
1993/1994 - Mischief Reef incident where the Philippines discovered PRC building structures on the reef. The reef is claimed by both PRC and the Philippines.
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mischief_Reef"]Mischief Reef - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
1994 - United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea came into force. This provided the legal basis for the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei to claim features/islands/rocks in the South China Sea.
UNCLOS
2011 - Scarborough Shoal stand-off between PRC and the Philippines.
