I. History of the South China Sea Before the 1960s, the sovereignty of the islands in the South China Sea was never a problem. During the period of 1967, the report of the United Nations continental reef exploration mission in Southeast Asia stated that the Indo-China Peninsula and the continental shelf of the South China Sea are rich in oil deposits, with a reserve of 265,438+million cubic kilometers, which is equivalent to the sum of oil reservoirs in Middle Eastern countries or Venezuela plus the Gulf of Mexico and the southeastern coastal areas of the United States, with low sulfur content and good quality. Under the command of the American Institute of Oceanography, the American probe Hunter made five explorations in the South China Sea of China from June to August, 1969. According to its exploration report, this sea area is dominated by seamounts, the basement of seamounts is igneous rocks, there are sedimentary basins between the mountains, and the plate edges are all pointed, forming a closed stratum. The strata around the sea level are closed, so it is possible to store a large amount of oil and gas. Although this exploration only used ordinary lightning reflection seismic survey, it must be confirmed by more detailed geophysical survey, but after the news came out, it immediately aroused the motives of the Philippines and Vietnam to invade the islands in Nansha area by force. 1974, China recovered all the islands and reefs of Xisha Islands in one fell swoop after the "Xisha self-defense counterattack". Vietnam Since 1973, the South Vietnamese government began to seize some islands and reefs of Nansha Islands in China. By April of 1975, North Vietnam immediately sent troops to occupy these islands after defeating South Vietnam, and successively occupied them in 1973- 1974, 1978, 1988 and1990-/. In order to occupy the largest number of countries in China Nansha Islands. From 1970 to 1980, the Philippines successively occupied nine Nansha Islands in China. From 1983 to 1986, Malaysia occupied the Nansha Islands 10 islands and reefs. At present, the Xisha Islands and zhongsha islands (except Huangyan Island) have all been recovered by China; Dongsha islands is under the control of Taiwan Province province. The situation in Nansha Islands is the most complicated. At present, there are always three countries in Nansha Islands that actually control many islands and reefs. 29 in Viet Nam, 9 in the Philippines, Malaysia 10, and Taiwan Province Province of China 1. Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia claim sovereignty over all or part of the islands and reefs of Nansha Islands. Number of islands and reefs occupied by military facilities of main bases of each occupying party China 7 (garrison, not occupied) Yongshu Reef 260 helicopter platform China Taiwan Province Province 1 Taiping Island 100 helicopter platform Philippine 9 Zhongye Island 480 1300m runway Vietnam 29 Zhongjiao, Nanwei Island 600 600m runway Malaysia 10 billiards. The South China Sea is located in the southeast of China, and it extends from northeast to southwest. The whole sea area stretches from north to south 1800 km, with an east-west distribution of more than 900 km and a water area of about 3.6 million square kilometers. Among them, the sea area belonging to China is 26.5438+10,000 square kilometers, which is the largest sea area in China. Backed by the South China mainland, the Philippines Islands in the east, Indonesia, Brunei and other countries in the south, and Vietnam and the Malay Peninsula in the west, the strategic position is very important. There are more than 270 "South China Sea Islands" (including islands, sandbars, reefs, shoals and shoals), which are distributed from the northern Wei Beach near the coast in the north to the Zengmu shoal in the south; From Wan 'an Beach in the west to Huangyan Island in the east, it can be roughly divided into dongsha islands, Xisha Islands, zhongsha islands and Nansha Islands from north to south, with a total of 258 named islands and reefs. The seabed topography of the South China Sea is complex, mainly distributed in three parts: continental shelf, continental slope and central basin. The central basin is located in the east of the middle part of the South China Sea, with a flat rhombus overall, and the seabed is high in the northeast and low in the southwest. The continental shelf inclines to the basin, with different slopes along the continental margin and island arc, and the widest in the north and south. There is a steep continental slope between the central basin and the surrounding continental shelf, which is divided into east, south, west and north regions. The South China Sea Basin formed a deep-sea basin during the long-term crustal changes, and the islands in the South China Sea were formed on the uplifted steps of the basin. Its dongsha islands is located on the Dongsha step in the northern continental slope area; Xisha Islands and zhongsha islands are rooted in Xisha Steps and Zhongsha Steps in the western slope area; Nansha Islands were formed on the Nansha steps in the southern slope area. Third, the South China Sea is strategically located and rich in resources. There are all kinds of tropical trees in the South China Sea Islands. Rich in all kinds of seafood, there are more than 2850 kinds of marine life. The South China Sea is rich in seabed mineral resources, including manganese nodules of 35 metals such as manganese, iron, copper and cobalt and rare metals. It is a seabed mineral with high economic value and an important raw material for refining nuclear energy. Oil and natural gas are the most important mineral resources in the South China Sea. [15] This area has been praised as "the second Persian Gulf" and "one of the four major submarine oil storage areas" by the geological and petroleum circles. There are mainly Zengmu Basin, Sabah Basin and Wan 'an Basin. The strategic position of the South China Sea is very important. In terms of waterway, it is an important waterway connecting Northeast Asia-Western Pacific and Indian Ocean-Middle East, accounting for more than half of world shipping's total, with an average of more than 270 ships passing by every day, and more than 80% of Japanese, Korean and Taiwan Province oil is transported here. The imports and exports of the five ASEAN countries through the South China Sea account for more than half of the total foreign trade of these countries. Judging from these overall situations and strategic situations, the South China Sea issue is already the most serious problem at present, and more importantly, the South China Sea issue has been internationalized. In the field of international politics, any problem of any country, once it touches the word international, becomes extremely complicated, especially territorial disputes. The South China Sea issue has always been a dispute and disagreement between China and some countries in Southeast Asia. This incident itself belongs to the category of regional affairs and only needs to be solved by relevant countries in the region. However, in recent years, with the escalating value of the South China Sea in terms of oil resources and geostrategy, many countries outside the region, such as Japan, India and the United States, have been provoked to intervene to get a piece of the action. In recent years, with the rapid economic development in China.