UNSETTLED CLAIM OF

SPRATLY ISLANDS
PROBLEM
The Spratly Islands dispute is an
ongoing territorial conflict between
Brunei, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the
Philippines and Vietnam, concerning
"ownership" of the said islands which
is located in the South China Sea.
OBJECTIVES

 To discuss briefly the claims of China and

the Philippines
 To find solution and/or recommendations
concerning the dispute of China and the
Philippines regarding the Spratly Islands
CHINA
• bases its claim primarily on historical background
• claims sovereignty of what appears to be the
entire South China Sea, and released a map in
1947 under Mao Zedong’s reign, which drew a
“nine-dash line” – a U-shaped line that
demarcated China’s claimed territory, and which
comes precariously close to the coastlines of
smaller Southeast Asian states
PHILIPPINES
• claims on the basis of its geographical proximity that
the whole Spratly Islands is within the 200 Nautical
Mile Exclusive Economic Zone
• the historical rights as the ancestral domain of the
Sultanate of Sulu date backs from the Mahjapahit and
Shrivijaya empires, which extended from Sabah (North
Borneo), the Sulu archipelago, Palawan, parts of
Mindanao, the islands now known as the Spratlys,
Palawan, and up to the Visayas and Manila
RECOMMENDATION/SUGGESTION
The dispute on the unsettled claim of the Spratly
Islands can find a solution through the willingness of
the two involved countries to resolve the conflict.
Based from the given claims of China and the
Philippines, the latter has obviously the greater right
over the Spratly Islands, but due to its less military
might, the Philippines is having a difficulty in
counteracting China’s forces.