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China South China Sea
The South China Sea area was strategically important to Beijing
because of the discovery of offshore oil in China's 200-nauticalmile exclusive economic zone, increased foreign trade in the South
China Sea, and China's territorial claims there. The Xisha and
Nansha islands also were claimed, and some occupied, by Vietnam,
Taiwan, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Beijing's claims to these
island groups predated all others except those by the Guomindang
authorities. In 1974 the PLA Navy ousted South Vietnamese forces
from the Xisha and occupied some of the islands, which were
valuable as Chinese fishing bases and guano sites. Although Chinese
occupation of the Xisha effectively expanded its exclusive economic
zone, the discovery of offshore oil deposits near Hainan Island
intensified China's interest in both island groups. With the
expansion of Chinese foreign trade, Beijing's interest grew in
maintaining a naval presence in the Xisha Islands, which sit
astride the strategic Hong Kong-Singapore shipping route. Chinese
fishermen also used the Nansha Islands, but most of these were
occupied by Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Philippines. In the 1980s the
PLA Navy built up the South Sea Fleet, strengthened its naval
facilities and deployments in the Xisha Islands, and conducted
naval exercises in the South China Sea. To strengthen its military
position in the Xisha Islands and protect itself against the Soviet
base at Cam Ranh Bay, Beijing also reinforced its claim to the
Nansha Islands.
Data as of July 1987
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