South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea and it is a part of the Pacific Ocean located to the south of mainland China and Taiwan, to the west of the Philippines, to the north west of Sabah (Malaysia), Sarawak (Malaysia) and Brunei, to the north of Indonesia, to the north east of the Malay peninsula (Malaysia) and Singapore, and to the east of Vietnam

The Sea surrounds an area from Singapore to the Strait of Taiwan of around 3,500,000 km�South China Sea is one of the largest sea bodies after the five main oceansThere are hundreds of South China Sea Islands, collectively an archipelagoThe sea and its uninhabited islands are subject to rival claims of sovereignty by several countries

Islands

There are over 200 islands and reefs within the Sea, most of them are within the Spratly IslandsThe Spratly Islands are spread about 810 by 900 km area covering some 175 identified insular features, the largest island is Taiping Island (Itu Aba) at just over 1.3 km long and with its highest elevation at 3.8 metres

Resources

It is an extremely important body of water in a geopolitical senseIt is the second most used and popular sea lane in the world, while in terms of world annual merchant fleet tonnage; over 50% passes through the Strait of Malacca, the Sunda Strait, and the Lombok StraitOver 1.6 million m� (10 million barrels) of crude oil are shipped through the Strait of Malacca per day

The area has oil reserves of around 1.2 km� (7.7 billion barrels), with an estimate of 4.5 km� (28 billion barrels) in totalNatural gas reserves are estimated around 7,500 km� (266 trillion cubic feet)

Ecosystem

According to the studies, this body of water inhabitants one third of the all world's marine biodiversity, thereby making it a very important area for the ecosystem

List of Seas in Pacific Ocean

Major ports and harbours in Pacific Ocean