RESEARCH PAPER SERIES, 2021–22 23 MARCH 2022

South China Sea chronology

Introduction
The South China Sea is both a resource exploited by littoral states, and a strategic zone which regional
powers are vying to control. Around one-third of the worlds shipping passes through the Strait of Malacca
into the South China Sea, 1 and it is home to plentiful fish and fossil fuel reserves at a time when both
resources are becoming increasingly scarce. Over these regional conflicts, the shadow of great power
contest has emerged with increasingly confrontational policies of the United States of America and the
Peoples Republic of China. 2
The two main areas of contestation are the Paracel and the Spratly islands groups, in the North-West and
Southeast parts of the South China Sea respectively. The Peoples Republic of China is the most ambitious
claimant, asserting that over 80 per cent of the South China Sea is its sovereign territory, 3 which
encompasses both the Paracel and Spratly islands, as well as Macclesfield Bank and Scarborough Shoal. The
notorious ‘nine-dash line’, which the PRC cites to demonstrate the historic nature of its claim, also cuts
through the internationally recognised territory of several Southeast Asian nations, namely Vietnam,
Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
However, before the twentieth century the islands and features of the South China Sea were little more
than maritime hazards for Imperial China and its neighbours to avoid, and the sea was used as a communal
waterway. 4 The chronology below demonstrates how this scene fundamentally changed throughout the
twentieth century; developments that carried into the 21st century and up to the present.
Several of the key states involved have experienced revolutions or partitioning, complicating the
terminology used in this chronology.
The following terms are used:

• Qing Dynasty: the Chinese government ruling Mainland China until 1912.

• Republic of China (ROC): the government of Mainland China between 1912 and 1949, formed in
1912 following the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, and after 1949, the government of Taiwan.

• People’s Republic of China (PRC): the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government of China from
1949 to the present day.

1 CSIS, ‘How Much Trade Transits the South China Sea’, China Power, updated January 2021.
2 K Leigh, P Martin, and A Leung, ‘Troubled Waters: Where the U.S. and China Could Clash in the South China Sea’, Bloomberg, 17
December 2020.
3 K Leigh, P Martin, and A Leung, ‘Troubled Waters: Where the U.S. and China Could Clash in the South China Sea’, Bloomberg, 17

December 2020.
4 B Hayton, The South China Sea: The Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2014, p. 27-28.

ISSN 2203-5249
 Vietnam, reflecting its partition between 1954 and 1975, is referred to as either ‘North Vietnam’ or ‘South
Vietnam’ for that period.
As the literature on the South China Sea is vast, and the author has been limited to English language
sources, this chronology is not exhaustive. Events have been chosen on the basis that they relate to claims
or occupation of territory in the South China Sea, represent a change in the state of affairs in the region, or
provide relevant information about the actions of claimant countries and other states/organisations
operating in the region.
The timeline has been colour coded so that events that did not happen in the South China Sea, or are only
peripherally related to it, are highlighted in orange. These events provide background regarding the major
countries and organisations involved in South China Sea affairs.

Map of South China Sea and territorial claims

Image source: Voice of America, ‘Challenging Beijing in the South China Sea’, State of Affairs, 31 July 2012.

South China Sea chronology 2

 Timeline
Milestones Details
1909 In March, China discovered ongoing Japanese
guano mining operations on Pratas Island. By
November, Qing Dynasty officials negotiated a
settlement with the Japanese government for
recognition of Chinese sovereignty over Pratas
Island. Under the settlement, China provided
financial compensation to the Japanese guano
miners.
Pratas Island is located between the Philippines
and Taiwan in the northernmost part of the South
China Sea. It is not a part of any island group.
1909 In April 1909, with the Pratas Island episode
ongoing, the Governor of Guandong sent Admiral
Li Zhun on an official mission to survey the Paracel
Islands for incorporation into China’s territory.
The Paracels lie near the coasts of Hainan and
Vietnam.
January 1935 After the annexation of Manchuria by Japan and
attempts by the French government to claim the
Paracels and Spratlys as part of France’s colonial
holdings in Vietnam, the Republican Chinese
Government’s geographical committee published a
map of Chinese territory which included the
Paracels and Spratlys.
The Spratlys, lying near Vietnam, the Philippines,
Brunei and Malaysia, became the southernmost
part of China’s territorial claims.
1936 Bai Meichu, a nationalist Chinese geographer,
published a map featuring a ‘U shaped line’ which
represented most of the islands and features in the
South China Sea as China’s sovereign territory. The
line extended as far south as James Shoal, around
80 km off the Borneo coast of Malaysia.
1938 Faced with Imperial Japanese expansion into the
South China Sea, Philippine President Manuel
Quezon requested that the American State
Department research the ownership status of
South China Sea chronology
Source documents
B Hayton, The South China Sea: The
Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale
University Press, New Haven and
London, 2014, p. 51.
Francois -Xavier Bonnet, ‘Geopolitics
of Scarborough Shoal’, Irasec’s
Discussion Papers, 14, November
2012, p. 14.
Francois -Xavier Bonnet, ‘Geopolitics
of Scarborough Shoal’, Irasec’s
Discussion Papers, 14, November
2012, p. 17-18.
B Hayton, The South China Sea: The
Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale
University Press, New Haven and
London, 2014, p. 55.
L Jinming & L Dexia, ‘The Dotted Line
on the Chinese Map of the South
China Sea: A Note’, Ocean
Development and International Law,
34, January 2003, p. 289.
B Hayton, The South China Sea: The
Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale
University Press, New Haven and
London, 2014, p. 56.
Francois -Xavier Bonnet, ‘Geopolitics
of Scarborough Shoal’, Irasec’s
3
 Scarborough Shoal. This research was intended to
support an official Philippine claim for the
Scarborough Shoal, though ultimately no such
official claim was made.
February 1939 – After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war, Japan
March 1939 established effective control over Hainan, then the
Paracels and finally annexed the Spratlys. Imperial
Japan's strategy for expansion in the Pacific
involved controlling the South China Sea.
1947 Settlements following Japanese defeat in the
Second World War required Japan to relinquish its
territorial holdings in the South China Sea, which
triggered competition between China, the
Philippines, and the French colonial government in
Vietnam for ownership of South China Sea
features. In pursuit of such ownership, the
Republic of China (ROC) drew up a map of the
South China Sea featuring an eleven-dash line,
based on the ‘U shape line’ drawn by nationalist
geographer Bai Meichu ten years earlier.
October 1949 Mao Zedong established the People’s Republic of
China following the victory of Chinese Communist
forces over the Nationalists. The ROC government
retreated from Mainland China to Taiwan, and
withdrew from Woody Island in the Paracel Islands
and Itu Aba in the Spratly Islands.
May 1950 Philippines President Elpido Quirino asserted his
nation’s sovereignty over the Spratly Islands. He
had previously claimed the Spratlys were essential
to the security of the Philippines, based on
Imperial Japan’s use of the Spratlys during the
Second World War. PRC authorities denounced
Quirino’s statements as ‘preposterous propaganda’
and asserted that the PRC ‘will never allow the
Nansha (Spratly) Islands or any other land which
belongs to China, to be encroached upon by any
foreign power’.
September 1951 Zhou Enlai, the PRC’s Foreign Minister, released a
statement regarding the South China Sea during
the development of the Treaty of Peace with
Japan, which Japan signed with forty-eight
countries to conclude war with the Allied Powers
and to end American occupation of the Japanese
South China Sea chronology
Discussion Papers, 14, November
2012, p. 11.
L Peng Er, ‘Japan and the Spratlys
Dispute: Aspirations and Limitations’,
Asian Survey, 36(10), 1996, p. 997.
B Hayton, The South China Sea: The
Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale
University Press, New Haven and
London, 2014, p. 57-59.
B Hayton, The South China Sea: The
Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale
University Press, New Haven and
London, 2014, pp. 63-64.
The Guardian Special Correspondent,
‘Mao Zedong proclaims the
establishment of the People’s
Republic of China’, The Guardian
(online archive), October 2019.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, 1989, pp.
138–139.
B Hayton, The South China Sea: The
Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale
University Press, New Haven and
London, 2014, p. 66.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, 1989, pp. 27-
28.
4
 mainland. It criticised the draft treaty for
‘deliberately mak[ing] no mention of restoring
sovereignty’ over the Spratly and Paracel Islands to
the PRC, which, among other islands within the
eleven-dash line, he claimed ‘have always been
China’s territory’. The Vietnamese delegation to
the conference made a similar claim to sovereignty
over the Paracels and Spratlys.
1953 Without any public or explicit explanation, maps
published by the PRC began to show a nine-dash
line rather than an eleven-dash line, differing from
territorial claims on maps published by the former
ROC government of mainland China and from maps
published in 1949 by the PRC government. The Gulf
of Tonkin was inside the eleven-dash line, but
outside of the nine-dash line.
1955 PRC established a troop presence on Woody Island,
the largest of the Paracel Islands.
1956 The ROC government, following its relocation to
Taiwan, reoccupied Itu Aba. Also known as Taiping
Island, Itu Aba is the largest island in the Spratlys,
and had been used as a submarine base by the
Japanese during World War II. The ROC occupies
the island to this day.
1956 South Vietnamese naval units landed on several of
the Spratly Islands and erected landmarks and
flags.
May 1956 Philippines Foreign Minister, Carlos Garcia, stated
that some of the Spratly Islands should be
recognised as Philippines sovereign territory due to
their proximity. This prompted counter claims from
both the PRC and South Vietnamese Governments.
May 1956 After his brother took possession of several of the
Spratly Islands, and having issued his ‘Notice to the
Whole World’, Philippine fishing magnate Tomás
Cloma declared the establishment of the ‘Free
Territory of Freedomland’ off the coast of Palawan,
Philippines. This drew protests from the PRC media
and Government. ROC navy vessels proceeded to
confront Cloma’s vessels and dismantled the
South China Sea chronology
Treaty of Peace with Japan, United
Nations, New York, (136, p. 45)
T Ikeshima, ‘China’s Dashed Line in
the South China Sea: Legal Limits and
Future Prospects’, Waseda Global
Forum, 10, 2013, p. 26.
Asia Maritime Transparency
Initiative, ‘Woody Island‘, Asia
Maritime Transparency Initiative
Website, n.d.
CY Lin, ‘Taiwan’s Spratly Initiative in
the South China Sea’, China Brief,
8(4), 29 February 2008.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, 1989, pp. 29-
30.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, 1989, p. 29.
B Hayton, The South China Sea: The
Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale
University Press, New Haven and
London, 2014, pp. 66-67.
5
 structures they had built on the islands of the
claimed region.
December 1957 Under the anonymous pseudonym ‘Commentator’,
a PRC official published a defence in a Communist
Party Publication of the Indonesian Government’s
decision to extend its territorial sea from 3 to 12
nautical miles, and to apply the archipelagic
principle when delimiting its territorial sea.
1958 September The PRC’s Parliament passed its ‘Declaration of the
Government of the Peoples Republic of China on
China’s Territorial Sea’, which asserted the PRC’s
sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands,
and claimed that its territorial sea extended to 12
nautical miles from baselines ‘composed of the
straight lines connecting base-points on the
mainland coast and on the outermost coastal
islands.’ The United States denounced the move,
describing it as an ‘attempt to cloak aggressive
purposes.’
March 1959 After 82 Chinese fishermen were arrested by South
Vietnamese troops in the Crescent Group of the
Paracel Islands, the PRC protested that ‘the South
Vietnam Navy has openly violated China’s
territorial integrity and sovereignty.’
1956-1966 Following Khrushchev’s On the Cult of Personality
and Its Consequences speech, and several
diplomatic and geostrategic spats, a split opened
between the PRC and Soviet Union. This
transformed the global geostrategic and diplomatic
landscape, putting the PRC on a defensive footing
in its region, and leading them to suspect that the
USSR would use North Vietnam as a base of
operations in the South China Sea.
1965 A PRC official published an article protesting the
creation by the United States of a ‘combat zone’
off the coast of Vietnam which extended to 9
nautical miles from Triton Island in the Paracel
Islands. It described the zone as a ‘menace to
China’s security’ as it extended to a ‘part of
Chinese territorial waters in the vicinity of China’s
Hsisha (Paracel) islands’.
South China Sea chronology
H Chiu, ‘China and the Law of the Sea
Conference’, Contemporary Asian
Studies, 41(4), 1981, p. 2.
Declaration of the Government of
the Peoples Republic of China on
China’s Territorial Sea, 4 September
1958.
H Chiu, ‘China and the Law of the Sea
Conference’, Contemporary Asian
Studies, 41(4), 1981, p. 3.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, 1989, pp. 32-
33.
P Roberts, P Vamos, D Kaple. ‘Forum:
Mao, Khrushchev, and China’s Split
with the USSR: Perspectives on The
Sino-Soviet Split’, Journal of Cold War
Studies, 2010, pp. 149-150 & 152-
158.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, 1989, pp. 104-
105.
H Chiu, ‘China and the Law of the Sea
Conference’, Contemporary Asian
Studies, 41(4), 1981, p. 4.
6
 August 1967 The Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) was established, with Indonesia, Thailand,
Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines
constituting its founding members. The PRC
labelled it an ‘alliance of US stooges.’
1968 Almost a year after the creation of its ‘Seabed’
Committee, the United Nations sponsored a survey
of natural resources in the South China Sea which
revealed the presence of a continental shelf and
the possibility of oil reserves throughout the
region.
1971 The PRC began construction of a harbour and
concrete wharf on Woody Island, a feature in the
Paracel Islands.
July 1971 Henry Kissinger secretly visited China, leading to a
rapprochement between the PRC and the US. It
also contributed to a terminal decline in relations
between the PRC and North Vietnam in light of the
parties’ involvement in the Vietnam War.
March 1972 The PRC representative on the UN Seabed
Committee argued in favour of a 200-mile
territorial sea, over which the claimant nation
would exercise ‘complete sovereignty’.
1973 The PRC presented its contemporary views on
maritime territorial law through a submission to
the UN Seabed Committee which stated that ‘an
Archipelago or an island chain consisting of islands
close to each other may be taken as an integral
whole in defining the limits of the territorial sea
around it’, presumably in reference to the Paracel
and Spratly Islands. Outside of the ambiguity of the
nine-dash line, the PRC had previously restricted its
statements on the international stage to claims to
sovereignty over islands, rather than substantial
territorial claims over the South China Sea itself.
July 1973 South Vietnam granted several oil concessions off
its coast to various international oil companies and
consortia.
South China Sea chronology
Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade, ‘Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN)’
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, 1989, p. 63.
C Snyder, ‘The implications of
hydrocarbon development in the
South China Sea’, International
Journal, 52(1), 1996-7, p. 143.
J Garver, ‘China’s Push through the
South China Sea: The Interaction of
Bureaucratic and National Interests’,
The China Quarterly, 132, 1992, p.
1001.
W Burr, ‘The Kissinger Transcripts:
The Top Secret Talks With Beijing and
Moscow’, The New York Times
(online archive), 1999.
H Chiu, ‘China and the Law of the Sea
Conference’, Contemporary Asian
Studies, 41(4), 1981, pp. 6-7.
H Chiu, ‘China and the Law of the Sea
Conference’, Contemporary Asian
Studies, 41(4), 1981, p. 9.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
7

September 1973 In line with a recommendation of its petroleum
board, South Vietnam occupied ten of the Spratly
Islands and incorporated them into the Phước Tuy
Province. Which state held sovereignty over the
Spratly Islands had been disputed since the Treaty
of Peace with Japan. Hundreds of South
Vietnamese troops were deployed to protect the
oil concessions South Vietnam had granted.
January 1974 South Vietnamese forces were decisively driven
from the Paracel Islands by People's Liberation
Army (PLA) naval vessels and soldiers. Over 100
South Vietnamese soldiers were killed or wounded,
and 48 taken prisoner. The remaining Vietnamese
troops fled south and, alongside reinforcements
from the mainland, established the first permanent
Vietnamese occupation of the Spratly Islands,
drawing further ire from the PRC.
January – South Vietnam sent diplomatic notes to the ROC
February 1974 and the Philippines rejecting their claims to
sovereignty over the Spratly Islands.
October 1974 The Philippine Government coerced Tomás Cloma
into giving them control of Freedomland and
renames it the Kalyaan islands.
April 1975 In the weeks before the fall of Saigon, North
Vietnamese forces occupied six of the Spratly
Islands previously under South Vietnamese control.
The state news agency described the action as the
return of ‘six beloved islands to the fatherland’.
April 1975 Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) fell to North Vietnamese
Forces, beginning the process of reunification.
March 1976 Notwithstanding the protests of the PRC, a
Philippine-Swedish consortium conducted a
South China Sea chronology
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, 1989, p. 55.
B Hayton, The South China Sea: The
Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale
University Press, New Haven and
London, 2014, p. 71.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, 1989, p. 55.
T Yoshihara, ‘The 1974 Paracels Sea
Battle: A Campaign Appraisal’, U.S.
Naval War College Review, 69(2),
2016, p. 50.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, 1989, pp. 55-
58.
B Hayton, The South China Sea: The
Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale
University Press, New Haven and
London, 2014, pp. 78-79.
R Pedrozo, China Versus Vietnam: An
Analysis of the Competing Claims in
the South China Sea, CNA Occasional
Paper, CNA Corporation, August
2014, p. 58.
B Hayton, The South China Sea: The
Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale
University Press, New Haven and
London, 2014, pp. 69-70.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, 1989, p. 92.
G Esper, ‘Communists Take Over
Saigon; ‘Ho Chi Minh City’’, The New
York Times (online archive), 1 May
1975.
M Muscolino, ‘Past and Present
Resource Disputes in the South China
8
 resources survey in the Reed Bank area of the
Spratlys and discovered a rich oil field off the coast
of Palawan Island.
May 1977 Vietnam released a statement claiming sovereignty
over the Paracel and Spratly Islands, as well as the
territorial sea and resources surrounding them.
June 1977 The Vietnamese Defence Minister ordered a 29-
vessel taskforce to conduct a combined sea-air
exercise near the Paracel Islands the day before he
was to visit China.
1978 At the Third Plenum of the 11th Central Committee
of the Chinese Communist Party, Deng Xiaoping is
established as paramount leader. During Deng’s
time as leader, China’s diplomatic relations with
the West improved, and Chinese ties with ASEAN
members grew closer, with the exception of
Vietnam.
1978 The PRC completed construction of a runway on
Woody Island and enlarged its harbour.
1978 As part of its efforts to increase its military
presence in the Spratlys, the Philippines occupied
Panata Island.
June 1978 President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos,
signed a Presidential decree claiming sovereignty
over the Kalayaan island group. The PRC Foreign
Ministry later denounced the move as ‘illegal and
impermissible’.
February 1979 Following Vietnam’s occupation of Cambodia, and
allegations that Chinese people living in the nation
had been mistreated or killed, the PRC launched a
punitive expedition against Vietnam, which
sparked a war between the two nations which
killed tens of thousands.
September 1979 During bilateral talks between China and Vietnam,
the Vietnamese Government published ‘Vietnam’s
Sovereignty Over Hoàng Sa (Paracel) and Trường
Sa (Spratly) Archipelagos’. This represented a
South China Sea chronology
Sea: The Case of Reed Bank’, Cross-
Currents East Asian History and
Culture Review, 2(2), September
2013, p. 85.
Statement on the Territorial Sea, the
Contiguous Zone, the Exclusive
Economic Zone and the Continental
Shelf, May 1977.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, p. 101.
B Naughton, ‘Deng Xiaoping: The
Economist’, The China Quarterly,
135, September 1993, p. 500.
W Heaton, ‘China and Southeast
Asian Communist Movements: The
Decline of Dual Track Diplomacy’
Asian Survey, 22(8), August 1982, pp.
779-781.
B Hayton, The South China Sea: The
Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale
University Press, New Haven and
London, 2014, p. 79.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, p. 150.
Presidential Decree No. 1596, s.
1978, 11 June 1978.
J Copper, The Sino-Vietnam War’s
Thirtieth Anniversary, American
Journal of Chinese Studies, 16(1),
2009.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, p. 113.
9
 definitive departure from the previous North
Vietnamese position that the PRC held sovereignty
over the Paracel and Spratly Islands.
December 1979 Malaysia published a map of its continental shelf,
marking several islands and reefs in the Spratly
Islands as its territory.
1979 – 1980 The PRC established temporary and permanent
navigation beacons and lighthouses in the Paracel
islands. It also built its first airstrip in the island
group, establishing an air route to Hainan Island,
and expanded the harbours on Woody Island and
Triton Island.
January 1980 The PRC foreign Ministry published ‘China’s
Indisputable Sovereignty over the Xisha (Paracel)
and Nansha (Spratly) Islands’, a document which
stated that the islands have been ‘China’s territory
since ancient times’ and denounced the allegedly
‘hegemonist and aggressor expansionist ambitions’
of Vietnam in the South China Sea.
1981 The PRC announced that ‘quite abundant’ offshore
oil reserves have been discovered following
extensive surveys in the Pearl River Estuary, the
Yingge Sea, and the Northern part of the Tonkin
Gulf, all regions which are part of or directly
adjacent to the South China Sea.
1982 After the PRC advertised oil concessions in the
South China, the Vietnamese Government released
a statement asserting that it will ‘not tolerate any
encroachment on the resources held in its
territorial waters and continental shelf’.
1982 December United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS) was opened for signatures. This treaty
lays down a comprehensive regime of law and
order in the world's oceans and seas establishing
rules governing all uses of the oceans and their
resources. It also contradicted China’s 1973
working paper by limiting the application of the
archipelagic principle to archipelago states.
1983 Malaysia occupied and established a base on
Swallow Reef, which is located in the southern part
of the Spratly Islands.
South China Sea chronology
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, p. 156.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, pp. 115 &
118.
PRC Foreign Ministry, ‘China’s
Indisputable Sovereignty Over the
Xisha and Nansha Islands (PRC)’,
Beijing Review, 7, 18 February 1980,
pp. 15 & 24.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, p. 126.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, p. 130.
United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea, opened for signature
10 December 1982.
L Chi-Kin, China’s Policy Towards
Territorial Disputes: The Case of the
South China Sea Islands, Routledge,
London and New York, pp. 40-41.
Asian Maritime Transparency
Initiative, ‘Swallow Reef’, Asia
Maritime Transparency Initiative
Website.
10
 1984 As it became an independent country, Brunei
formally laid claim to its continental shelf and EEZ,
which extends 200 miles from its coastline. This
encompassed several features in the Southern
Spratly islands, including Louisa Reef, Owen Shoal
and Rifleman Bank.
1984 Following years of build-up of the country’s naval
capacity, PRC ships conducted their own surveys of
Spratly Islands which covered most of the region.
May 1984 Philippines ratified UNCLOS.
1986 Malaysia constructed a runway and civilian resort
on Swallow Reef.
February 1986 Indonesia ratified UNCLOS.
January - March The PRC permanently occupied Fiery Cross Reef in
1988 the Spratly Islands after dredging to create a
feature measuring approximately 8000m2 on the
previously intermittently submerged feature. It
also occupied Cuarteron Reef, which was claimed
by the Vietnamese. Previously, Vietnam was the
only country occupying islands in this part of the
Spratlys.
March 1988 A skirmish between Vietnamese and Chinese
forces over control of Johnson South Reef in the
Spratly Islands resulted in the deaths of 64
Vietnamese sailors.
April 1988 The PRC occupied the Hughes, North and South
Gavan, and Subi reefs near Fiery Cross Reef and
Johnson Reef.
South China Sea chronology
Exclusive Economic Zone
Proclaimation, Brunei Darussalam,
1984.
Editorial Board, ‘Brunei Maintains a
Low Profile in Pressing its South
China Sea Claims’, World Politics
Review (online), 28 January 2016.
B Hayton, The South China Sea: The
Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale
University Press, New Haven and
London, 2014, p. 80.
United Nations (UN), ‘Chronological
lists of ratifications of, accessions and
successions to the Convention and
the related Agreements’, UN Oceans
& Law of the Sea website.
Asian Maritime Transparency
Initiative, ‘Airpower in the South
China Sea’, Asia Maritime
Transparency Initiative Website.
United Nations (UN), ‘Chronological
lists of ratifications of, accessions and
successions to the Convention and
the related Agreements’, UN Oceans
& Law of the Sea website.
B Hayton, The South China Sea: The
Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale
University Press, New Haven and
London, 2014, p. 82.
B Hayton, ‘Why China Built its New
Islands’ in A Corr, ed, Great Powers,
Grand Strategies: The New Game in
the South China Sea, Naval Institute
Press, Annapolis, Maryland, pp. 48-
49.
KSL Collin, NM Tri, ‘Learning From
the Battle of the Spratly Islands’, The
Diplomat (online edition), March 20
2018.
B Hayton, ‘Why China Built its New
Islands’, in A Corr, ed, Great Powers,
Grand Strategies: The New Game in
11

September 1991 The Philippine Government evicted United States
forces from United States bases in the Philippines.
1992 Through a declaration by its Foreign Ministry,
Brunei formally laid claim to Louisa Reef.
February 1992 The PRC passed its Law on the Territorial Sea and
Contiguous Zone, laying claim to almost the entire
South China Sea based on its purported historical
rights.
July 1994 Vietnam ratified UNCLOS.
1995 PRC forces permanently occupied Mischief Reef in
the Spratly Islands. The reef was at this time a rock
formation which was submerged at high tide. The
Philippines and other ASEAN members united to
protest the action.
January 1996 PRC naval vessels fought a battle with a Philippine
navy gunboat near Capones Island in Mischief Reef,
which was claimed by both the Philippines and the
PRC. This was the first time the PRC engaged in
military confrontation with an ASEAN member
other than Vietnam.
March 1996 The US and the Philippines carried out joint
military exercises on Palawan Island. Both
countries denied that the operation was a reaction
to the PRC’s seizure of Mischief Reef.
South China Sea chronology
the South China Sea, Naval Institute
Press, Annapolis, Maryland, pp. 48-
49.
D Sanger, ‘Philippines Orders U.S. to
Leave Strategic Navy Base at Subic
Bay’, The New York Times (online
edition), 28 December 1991.
The Maritime Awareness Project,
‘Brunei Country Profile’, The National
Bureau of Asian Research, accessed
1 July 2021.
Law of the People’s Republic of China
on the Territorial Sea and the
Contiguous Zone, February 1992
United Nations (UN), ‘Chronological
lists of ratifications of, accessions and
successions to the Convention and
the related Agreements’, UN Oceans
& Law of the Sea website.
Asia Maritime Transparency
Initiative, ‘Mischief Reef’, Asia
Maritime Transparency Initiative
website.
B Hayton, The South China Sea: The
Struggle for Power in Asia, Yale
University Press, New Haven and
London, 2014, pp. 85-86.
Anon, ‘Scraply Islands’, The
Economist, 343(8018), 24 May 1997,
pp. 39-40.
A Rustandi, The South China Sea
Dispute: Opportunities for ASEAN to
enhance its policies in order to
achieve resolution, Australian
Defence College, Centre for Defence
and Strategic Studies, April 2016, p.
5.
R De Castro, ‘The US-Philippine
Alliance: An Evolving Hedge Against
an Emerging China Challenge’,
Contemporary Southeast Asia, 31(3),
2009, p. 405.
12
 June 1996 The PRC ratified UNCLOS. However, the PRC
continued to oppose treaty’s requirement that
parties undergo mandatory arbitration where
there are disputes, and otherwise rejected third
party involvement in such matters.
October 1996 Malaysia ratified UNCLOS.
September 1996 Indonesia held its largest naval manoeuvres to date M Richardson, ‘Indonesia Plans War
around the Natuna Islands, to which the PRC had
made claims.
November 1996 Brunei ratified UNCLOS.
October 1998 The Philippines Government produced
photographs of PRC vessels unloading construction
materials onto Mischief Reef, and Chinese workers
building a large structure.
1999 The PRC summer fishing moratoria which had
previously been applied to the East Sea and Yellow
Sea were extended to the South China Sea. The
moratoria applied to the area north of 12 parallel
north, which overlapped with traditional
Vietnamese and Philippines fisheries. Fishermen in
violation of the restrictions would have their
vessels and catch confiscated and faced a 50,000
fine. While Vietnam has explicitly and repeatedly
rejected the ban, the Philippines have passed
fishing regulations that largely mirror those
imposed by the PRC.
2000 The PRC and Vietnam signed a bilateral treaty
which formally delimited the boundary between
the two countries’ territory, EEZs and continental
shelves in the northern part of the Tonkin Gulf, and
concluded a joint fishing agreement which applied
to the area. The preceding negotiations had begun
South China Sea chronology
I Kardon, ‘China Can Say ‘No’:
Analysing China’s Rejection of the
South China Sea Arbitration’, Asian
Law Review, 13(2), 2018, pp. 10-11.
United Nations (UN), ‘Chronological
lists of ratifications of, accessions and
successions to the Convention and
the related Agreements’, UN Oceans
& Law of the Sea website.
United Nations (UN), ‘Chronological
lists of ratifications of, accessions and
successions to the Convention and
the related Agreements’, UN Oceans
& Law of the Sea website.
Games to Caution China’, The New
York Times, 16 August 1996.
United Nations (UN), ‘Chronological
lists of ratifications of, accessions and
successions to the Convention and
the related Agreements’, UN Oceans
& Law of the Sea website.
I Storey, ‘Creeping Assertiveness:
China, the Philippines and the South
China Sea Dispute’, Contemporary
Southeast Asia, 21(1), April 1999, p.
98.
S Huang & Yuru He, ‘Management of
China’s capture fisheries: Review and
prospect’, Aquaculture and Fisheries,
4, 2019, p. 178.
V Macikenaite, ‘The Implications of
China’s Fisheries Industry Regulation
and Development for the South
China Sea Dispute’, Keio University,
2014, pp. 221-223.
I Kardon, ‘The Other Gulf of Tonkin
Incident: China’s Forgotten Maritime
Compromise’, Asia Maritime
Transparency Initiative Website, 21
October 2015.
13
 before either party had ratified UNCLOS, but were
nonetheless guided by its provisions.

April 2001 A US EP-3E spy plane was intercepted by a Chinese E Rosenthal and D Sanger, ‘U.S. Plane
F-8 fighter over the South China Sea, 50 miles in China After it Collides With
southeast of Hainan Island, resulting in a collision Chinese Jet’, The New York Times, 2
which killed the Chinese pilot and forced the US April 2001.
plane to make an emergency landing on the island.
Declaration on the Conduct of Parties
November 2002 The PRC and the member states of ASEAN signed
in the South China Sea, opened for
the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the
signature 4 November 2002.
South China Sea. The non-binding document
affirmed the intention of the parties to draft and
ratify a formal Code of Conduct.
P Buchan and B Rimland, Defining the
May 2007 The first iteration of the Quadrilateral Security
Diamond: The Past, Present, and
Dialogue (Quad), comprising Japan, India, the
Future of the Quadrilateral Security
United States of America, and Australia, met for
Dialogue, CSIS Brief, CSIS, March
the first time at the suggestion of Prime Minister
2020.
Shinzo Abe of Japan at the ASEAN Regional Forum.

J Cherian, ‘The battle is on’,

September 2007 The first Quad held its only joint military exercise,
an expanded ‘MALABAR’ exercise in the Bay of
Bengal. The navies of the Quad countries were
joined by the Singaporean Navy. The PRC filed
official protests with each of the participating
countries.
January – ROC completed construction of an airfield on Itu
February 2008 Aba (Taiping Island), and the first visit to the island
by an ROC President took place.
Frontline, 21 September 2007.
K Kaushik, ‘Explained: The purpose,
participants of the Malabar Navy
Exercise’, The Indian Express, 3
November 2020.
CY Lin, ‘Taiwan’s Spratly Initiative in
the South China Sea’, China Brief,
8(4), 29 February 2008.

D Flitton, ‘Who Really Killed the Quad

2008 Following disagreements over what role the Quad
1.0?’, The Interpreter, 2 June 2020.
should play, the resignation of Shinzo Abe after his
first stint as PM, and the Rudd Government’s
decision to withdraw from the group, the first
Quad disbanded.
N Khac Giang, ‘Vietnam’s Response
2009 Vietnam established a ‘fishing militia’ as an answer
to China’s Militarised Fishing Fleet’,
to the maritime militia used by the PRC to back up
East Asia Forum, 4 August 2018.
territorial claims. Like the PRC militia, it consists of
fishing vessels which swarm claimed territory, or D Grossman and N Nhat Anh,
engage foreign vessels. Its mission, according to ‘Deciphering Vietnam’s Evolving
Hanoi, is to win the ongoing ‘people’s war at sea’. Military Doctrine in the South China
Sea’, The Rand Blog, 11 May 2018.

South China Sea chronology 14

 Commission on the Limits of the
May 2009 Malaysia and Vietnam filed a joint submission to
Continental Shelf, submissions, 3
the UN Commission on the Limits of the
May 2011.
Continental Shelf to extend their continental
shelves beyond the standard 200 nautical miles
from their coastlines.
M Lander, ‘Offering to Aid Talks, U.S.
July 2010 United States of America Secretary of State Hillary
Challenges China on Disputed
Clinton reiterated Washington’s neutrality
Islands’, New York Times, 23 July
regarding claims to sovereignty over islands in the
2010.
South China Sea in a speech at an Asian regional
security meeting. However, she affirmed the
United States’s interest in maintaining ‘open access
to Asia’s maritime commons’.
I Storey, ‘China and the Philippines:
May 2011 Philippines President Benigno Aquino III lodged a
Implications of the Reed Bank
formal protest at the International Tribunal for the
Incident’, China Brief, 11(8), 6 May
Law of the Sea, alleging that Chinese patrol boats
2011.
harassed a Philippine oil surveying vessel in waters
claimed by both nations.
Commonwealth of Australia. House
November 2011 In his speech to the Australian Parliament,
of Representatives. (2011). Address
President Barack Obama announced that the US
by the President of the United States
will pivot geo-strategically to the Asia Pacific. He
of America. (Official Hansard).
also announced troop and equipment deployments
to Australia, as well as Singapore.
M Fravel, ‘Clarification of China’s
February 2012 PRC Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei stated
Claim?’, The Diplomat, March 2012.
that ‘no country including China has claimed
sovereignty over the entire South China Sea’.
M Green, K Hicks, Z Cooper, J Schaus
April – June 2012 After a Philippines reconnaissance plane identified
and J Douglas, ‘Counter-Coercion
Chinese fishing boats at Scarborough Reef, the
Series: Scarborough Shoal Standoff‘,
Philippine Navy sent its warship BRP Gregorio del
Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative
Pilar to detain or expel them. The PRC sent two
Website.
unarmed vessels in response, leading to a standoff.
After a series of naval and diplomatic manoeuvres,
both sides withdrew.
Law of the Sea of Vietnam, (Vietnam)
June 2012 Vietnam’s National Assembly approved a new
maritime law claiming sovereignty over the Spratly J Perlez, ‘Vietnam Law on Contested
and Paracel Islands. The PRC Foreign Ministry Islands Draws China’s Ire’, New York
denounced the law, asserting that the Paracel and Times, 21 June 2012.
Spratly Islands are the ‘indisputable’ territory of
the PRC.
BBC, ‘ASEAN nations fail to reach
July 2012 ASEAN failed to issue a communique for the first
agreement on South China Sea’, BBC
time in its 45-year history, due to a disagreement
News (online article), 13 July 2012.
between member states over whether to include
the territorial issue in the joint statement. The
Philippines accused Cambodia of obstructing the
forum to aid the PRC.

South China Sea chronology 15

 Z Haver, ‘Sansha and the Expansion
July 2012 The PRC established Sansha City as part of the
of China’s South China Sea
Hainan province. The city is centred on Woody
Administration’, Asia Maritime
Island, where there is a significant civilian
Transparency Initiative Website, 12
presence, and its jurisdiction extends over most of
May 2020.
the islands and features within the nine-dash line.

B Blanchard and M Mogato, ‘Update

November 2012 The Chinese province of Hainan, which is directly
2 – Chinese police plan to board
to the North of the South China Sea, received
vessels in disputed seas’, Reuters, 29
permission to stop and search vessels that enter
November 2012.
waters claimed by the PRC at its discretion.

N Khac Giang, ‘Vietnam’s Response

2013 The Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance
to China’s Militarised Fishing Fleet’,
(VFRS) was established to supplement the
East Asia Forum, 4 August 2018.
capabilities of the Vietnamese Coast Guard. The
organisation is armed and authorised to use force.
The South China Sea Arbitration (The
January 2013 The Philippines filed for formal arbitration of the
Republic of Philippines v. The
PRC’s maritime claims in the SCS under UNCLOS at
People’s Republic of China), (2013-
the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The PRC
2019).
rejected the process.
S Bentley, ‘Mapping the nine-dash
March 2013 A PRC gunboat forced an Indonesian fisheries
line: recent incidents involving
protection craft to release PRC vessels found
Indonesia in the South China Sea’,
fishing near the Natuna Islands. The waters around
ASPI The Strategist, 29 October 2013.
the Natuna Islands are internationally recognised
as Indonesia’s EEZ. However, they also lie within
the nine-dash line, and therefore are claimed by
the PRC.
T Quismundo, ‘Withdraw ships,
May 2013 The PRC sent over thirty fishing and patrol vessels
Philippines tells China’, Philippine
to Second Thomas Shoal, which is occupied by the
Daily Inquirer, 28 May 2013.
Philippines. The Philippines Government asserted
that this was done to intimidate their sailors and
marines operating in the area.
I Forsyth, ‘Old Game Plan, New
2014 Throughout the year, PRC vessels harassed
Game’, in A Corr, ed, Great Powers,
Vietnamese fishermen in the vicinity of the Paracel
Grand Strategies, Naval Institute
Islands, and Philippines ships near Scarborough
Press, Annapolis, Maryland, p. 87.
Shoal and Thomas Shoal. Similar altercations
continued into 2015.
J Perlez, ‘China and Vietnam Point
May 2014 A Vietnamese fishing vessel sank near a Chinese oil
Fingers After Clash in South China
rig anchored off Vietnam’s coast, within its EEZ.
Sea’, New York Times, 27 May 2014.
Vietnamese media claimed that a Chinese vessel
rammed the boat, while Chinese state news agency
Xinhua claimed that it capsized while ‘interfering
with and ramming’ a Chinese fishing vessel.

South China Sea chronology 16

 Amaani Lyle, ‘DoD Registers Concern
August 2014 A PRC fighter jet intercepted a US Navy P-8
to China for Dangerous Intercept’, US
Poseidon anti-submarine and reconnaissance plane
Department of Defence Website, 22
about 135 miles east of the Chinese island of
August 2014.
Hainan. US defence officials claim other close
intercepts occurred in March, April and May.
Commonwealth of Australia. House
November 2014 PRC President Xi Jinping addressed the Australian
of Representatives. (2014). Address
Parliament. He asserted that ‘China remains
by the President of the People’s
committed to building friendly relations and
Republic of China. (Official Hansard).
partnerships with its neighbours’ and seeks to
‘jointly maintain freedom of navigation and safety
of maritime routs and ensure a maritime order of
peace, tranquillity and win-win cooperation’.
Asia Maritime Transparency
2015 Vietnam finished artificially doubling the size of its
Initiative, Vietnam Island Building,
island base at Sand Cay and constructing 65,000m2
Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative
of artificial land at West London Reef.
Website, May 7 2015.
M Liddy & B Spraggon, ‘Before and
June 2015 The PRC completed construction of seven artificial
After: China Builds Artificial Islands in
islands in the Spratly Islands on reefs they occupy
South China Sea’, ABC, 22 September
and announced that they would commence
2015.
construction of military and civilian structures on
them.
G Poling, ‘Spratly Airstrip Update: Is
September 2015 The PRC completed a 3000m runway on Fiery Cross
Mischief Reef Next’, Asia Maritime
Reef, which can land most PRC military aircraft.
Transparency Initiative, 15
Runway construction was also spotted on
September 2015.
artificially reclaimed land on Mischief and Subi
Reefs.

D Brunnstrom and M Martina, ‘China

September 2015 In response to concerns voiced by US President
denies China turning artificial islands
Barack Obama about China’s construction activities
into military bases’, Reuters, 26
in the Spratly Islands, President Xi Jinping asserted
September 2015.
that the PRC has ‘no intention to militarize’ the
islands.
M Forsythe, ‘China Deployed Missiles
February 2016 According to US and ROC sources, the PRC
on Disputed Island, U.S. Says’, New
deployed surface to air missiles on Woody Island.
York Times, 16 February 2016.
M Mogato, M Martina, B Blanchard,
June 2016 ASEAN foreign ministers meeting at Phnom Penh
‘ASEAN Deadlocked on South China
failed to issue a communique for the second time.
Sea, Cambodia Blocks Statement’,
While the Philippines and Vietnam pushed for a
Reuters, 25 July 2016.
statement which would cite the South China Sea
arbitration lodged by the Philippines under
UNCLOS, which was soon to announce its findings,
Cambodia opposed any statements which would
challenge the PRC’s claims over the South China
Sea.

South China Sea chronology 17

 The South China Sea Arbitration (The
July 2016 The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favour
Republic of Philippines v. The
of the Philippines, finding that the PRC's historic
People’s Republic of China, (2013-
claims to sovereignty and jurisdiction over the
2019).
relevant waters or features within nine-dash line
were contrary to UNCLOS, and therefore unlawful K Allen, ‘Beijing Engineers Coverage
to the extent that they exceed their entitlements of South China Sea Ruling’, BBC, 12
under UNCLOS. The PRC responded by stating that July 2016.
it ‘neither accepts nor recognises’ the court's
ruling. The ROC also rejected the Court’s findings.
R Jennings, ‘Countries Defy China’s
May 2017 The PRC announced a three-month moratorium on
Extra-Strict Fishing Moratorium in
fishing north of the 12th Parallel, a month longer
South China Sea’, VOA News, 9 June
than previous moratoria.
2017.
P Buchan & B Rimland, Defining the
November 2017 Following talks between representatives of the
Diamond: The Past, Present, and
original Quad countries at the ASEAN Conference
Future of the Quadrilateral Security
in Manila, a second iteration of the Quad was
Dialogue, CSIS Brief, 16 March 2020.
formed.
L Zhen, ‘China’s Military Police Given
March 2018 The PRC placed its Coast Guard under the control
Control of Coast guard as Beijing
of the People’s Armed Police, which is itself directly
Boosts Maritime Security’, South
commanded by the Central Military Commission.
China Morning Post, 21 March 2018.
A Liang, ‘South Asian Navies to Hold
October 2018 The navies of the PRC and ASEAN countries held
1st Joint Drills with China’, Associated
their first ever maritime exercise together off the
Press, 19 October 2018.
coast of China’s Guangdong Province amid
negotiations over a draft negotiating text for a F Chiang, ‘Uncertain Prospects: South
South China Sea Code of Conduct. This was the first China Sea Code of Conduct
time ASEAN had held such an exercise with Negotiations’, Foreign Policy
another country. Research Institute, 6 October 2020.
S Myers, ‘American and Chinese
September 2018 A US warship on a freedom of navigation mission
Warships Narrowly Avoid High-Seas
almost collided with a PRC ship, which sparked a
Collision’, The New York Times, 2
diplomatic incident.
October 2018.
H Beech & J Gutierrez, ‘Xi Visited
November 2018 President Xi Jinping visited Manila, the first state
Philippines to Celebrate ‘Rainbow
visit by a Chinese head of state to the Philippines in
After the Rain’ With Duterte’, The
13 years. Beijing and Manila agreed to maintain
New York Times, 19 November 2018.
‘freedom of navigation in and over-flight above the
SCS’, and Duterte announced the establishment of Joint Statement between the
a no fishing zone and marine sanctuary at a lagoon People’s Republic of China and the
in the contested Scarborough Shoal. Republic of the Philippines, 21
November 2018.
M Ives, ‘Philippines to Declare
Marine Sanctuary in South China
Sea’, The New York Times, 21
November 2016.

South China Sea chronology 18


July 2019 Vietnamese and PRC vessels engaged in a weeks-
long standoff near an offshore oil block in waters
that fall within both Vietnam’s EEZ and the Nine-
Dash Line.
September 2019 The reformed Quad held its first meeting of
Foreign Ministers in New York. Australia affirmed
that the grouping is committed to an ‘open,
prosperous, rules-based and inclusive Indo-Pacific
region, in which international law and the rights of
all states are respected’.
January 2020 Chinese fishing vessels were escorted by the PRC
Coast Guard into Indonesia’s EEZ in the North
Natuna Sea. In response, Indonesia sent military
patrols to the region. The PRC vessels eventually
retreated, an action which may have been
prompted by President Joko Widodo’s visit to the
Natuna Regency. The PRC had previously
recognised Indonesia’s sovereignty over the
Natuna Islands.
April 2020 The PRC announced the creation of two new
administrative districts under the authority of
Sansha city: Xisha, which covers the Paracel
Islands, Macclesfield Bank and Scarborough Shoal,
and Nansha, which covers the Spratly Islands. The
move was denounced by Vietnam and the
Philippines.
May 2020 A months-long standoff between Chinese,
Malaysian, and Vietnamese ships within Malaysia’s
EEZ ended after a Malaysian drillship which had
been exploring oil and gas fields claimed by both
Vietnam and Malaysia left the area.
South China Sea chronology
Reuters, ‘Vietnam, China embroiled
in South China Sea Standoff’, Sydney
Morning Herald, 18 July 2019.
E Fowler, ‘India Ramps Up
Involvement in ‘Quad’ Talks’,
Financial Review, 27 September
2019.
Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade, Australia-India-Japan-United
States ‘Quad’ Consultations, media
release, 4 November 2019.
A Darmawan, ‘China’s Claim to
Traditional Fishing Rights in the
North Natuna Sea Does Not Hold Up’,
East Asia Forum, 22 April 2020.
Fadli, ‘Chinese Vessels Retreat to
Border of Indonesia’s EEZ in North
Natuna Sea’, The Jakarta Post, 12
January 2020.
M Yu, ‘Et Tu, Jakarta’, The
Washington Times, 19 November
2015.
Huong Le Thu, ‘Fishing While the
Water is Muddy: China’s Newly
Announced Administrative Districts
in the South China Sea’, Asia
Maritime Transparency Initiative
Website, 6 May 2020.
Z Haver, ‘Sansha and the Expansion
of China’s South China Sea
Administration’, Asia Maritime
Transparency Initiative Website, 12
May 2020.
Asia Maritime Transparency
Initiative, ‘Update: Chinese Survey
Ship Escalates Three-Way Standoff’,
Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative
Website, 18 June 2020.
R Latiff, ‘Chinese Ship Leaves
Malaysian Waters After Month-Long
South China Sea Standoff’, Reuters,
15 May 2020.
19
 E Wong & M Crowley, ‘U.S. Says
July 2020 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that the
Most of China’s Claims in the South
PRC’s claims to sovereignty across the entire South
China Sea are Illegal’, The New York
China Sea were ‘completely unlawful’.
Times, 13 July 2020.
Australia joins Exercise MALABAR
November 2020 For the first time, all four members of the Quad
2020, Department of Defence, 3
participate in the MALABAR naval exercises.
November 2020
S Luo, ‘China’s Coast Guard Law:
January 2021 The PRC passed a law authorising Chinese Coast
Destabilizing or Reassuring’, The
Guard vessels to ‘take all necessary measures,
Diplomat, 29 January 2021.
including the use of weapons, when national
sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction are M Yamaguchi, ‘Japan Expresses
being illegally infringed upon by foreign Concern to UK Over New Chinese
organizations or individuals at sea’. Coast Guard Law’, The Diplomat, 4
February 2021.
Reuters Staff, ‘U.S. Stands with SE
January 2021 Newly appointed US Secretary of State Antony
Asian Countries Against China
Blinken reaffirmed that the US ‘rejects China’s
Pressure’, Blinken Says’, Reuters, 28
maritime claims in the South China Sea to the
January 2021.
extent that they exceed the maritime zones that
China is permitted to claim under international
law’ and stated that he will ‘stand with Southeast
Asian claimants in the face of PRC pressure’.
A Panda, The US Navy’s First Trump-
February 2021 The Biden administration’s first FONOP begins,
Era South China Sea FONOP Just
with a US warship sailing past the Paracel Islands.
Happened: First Takeaways and
Analysis, The Diplomat, May 25 2017
J Gomez, ‘Philippine defence chief
March 2021 The Philippine defence chief demanded that
asks Chinese flotilla to leave reef’,
approximately 200 Chinese vessels leave Whitsun
Associated Press, 22 March 2021.
Reef, which both the PRC and the Philippines claim.
While a PRC spokesperson asserted that the S Myers & J Gutierrez, ‘With Swarms
vessels carry Chinese fishermen who have been of Ships, Beijing Tightens Its Grip on
‘fishing in the waters near the reef all along’, the South China Sea’, New York Times, 5
National Task Force–West Philippines, an agency of April 2021.
the Philippines government, alleged they are part
of the PRC’s maritime militia.
S Morrison, Opening remarks, Virtual
March 2021 The first Quad Leaders’ Summit is held virtually due
Quad Leaders' Meeting, 13 March
to the Covid-19 pandemic.
2021
South China Sea: Statement by the
April 2021 All 27 EU member states issued a joint statement
Spokesperson on challenges to peace
calling on all parties in the South China Sea to
and stability, European Union
abide by the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration
External Action Service, 24 April 2021
ruling.
US Navy aircraft carrier USS Reagan
June 2021 The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier strike group
enters South China Sea, Al Jazeera,
sailed into the disputed territory of the South
15 June 2021
China Sea.

South China Sea chronology 20

 China warns UK as carrier strike
July 2021 UK Carrier Strike Group, including the carrier HMS
group approaches, BBC News, 30 July
Queen Elizabeth, sailed through the South China
2021
Sea on its way to Japan, with a program that
included exercises with the Singaporean navy and a
FONOP exercise through the South China Sea.
Indo-Pacific Deployment 2021,
August 2021 A German frigate is dispatched to the South China
Bundeswehr, 2 August 2021
Sea for the first time, as part of a German effort to
expand its Indo-Pacific presence.

September 2021 AUKUS, an enhanced trilateral security partnership
between Australia, the United Kingdom and the
United States of America, is formed. AUKUS’s first
initiative is the development of nuclear-powered
submarines for the Royal Australian Navy,
beginning with an 18-month review period to
determine how to achieve this goal. Australia
cancelled the Attack-class conventional submarine
acquisition program.
Joint Leaders Statement on AUKUS,
White House Briefing Room,
September 15 2021
S Morrison, Australia to pursue
nuclear-powered submarines
through new trilateral enhanced
security partnership, Prime Minister,
16 September 2021

S Morrison, Quad Leaders' Summit

September 2021 The first in-person Quad Leaders’ Summit was held
Communique, Prime Minister of
at the White House in Washington.
Australia, 24 September 2021
L Lin and J T Areddy, Record Chinese
October 2021 The pace of Chinese air sorties into ROC airspace
Aircraft Sorties Near Taiwan Prompt
escalated, with 93 sorties conducted within three
US Warning, Wall Street Journal, 3
days.
October 2021
Philippines Tells China to Back Off
November 2021 The Philippines claimed Chinese vessels fired water
After South China Sea Clash, Al
cannons on Philippine vessels attempting to
Jazeera, 18 November 2021
resupply the Sierra Madre grounded on the Second
Thomas Shoal.
Australia to host fourth Quad Foreign
February 2022 Australia hosted fourth Quad Foreign Ministers’
Ministers’ Meeting, Minister for
meeting in Melbourne.
Foreign Affairs, 10 February 2022

South China Sea chronology 21

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South China Sea chronology 22