The spratly islands comprise a widely dispersed group of over 400 tiny islands, reefs, shoals and sandbanks in the South china sea located some 500 kilometres south-east of Vietnam,500 kilometres west of the Philippines and close to offshore Malaysian Borneo. the islands, which extend for more than 800 kilometres form north to south and which are also 1300 kilometres from the chinese mainland, are located along lines of maritime communications which link the indian and pacific oceans
The people's republic of china taiwan and vietnam lay claim to all of the islands the