Peace Hopes Up In Flight Disputes

The South China Sea has long been a major field of contention between the United States and China, with the US actively challenging China’s claim to sovereignty over most of the sea within a nine-dash line, and constantly sending ships and planes into the area asserting freedom of navigation in what it considers international waters. China, however, sees these flights as provocations.

The South China Sea is bounded by the Philippines in the east, Vietnam in the west, and Malaysia and Brunei in the south. To the northeast is the East China Sea between China and Japan. Farther north of that is the Yellow Sea between China and North and South Korea.