Contested sea, exclusive economic zones and a strategic network

The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific, bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by Taiwan and the islands of Luzon, Mindoro and Palawan, and in the south by Borneo, eastern Sumatra and the Bangka Belitung Islands. Encompassing a sizeable geographical area that communicates with the East China Sea, the Philippine Sea, the Sulu Sea, and the Java Sea. It is a strategic passage to international trade and includes several archipelago clusters of mostly small uninhabited islands, subject to competing claims of sovereignty by several countries. The South China Sea has historically been an important trade route connecting China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, to India and further west Europe and Africa, with an increased strategic and economic value in the last three decades and with 20‐25% of global maritime shipping passing through it, consisting in an important share of global GDP.