Case 274 - Mischief on Mischief Reef: Chinese Adventures in the Spratly Islands

Pitzl, Jerry

This case study focuses on an incident in the South China Sea involving Chinese occupation of one of the Spratly Islands, a cluster of tiny reefs about 280 miles southeast of Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, and 775 miles northeast of Singapore. Japan seized the area in 1939 and used it as a submarine base during World War II, but renounced its rights to the islands in 1951. The departure of U.S. forces from the Philippines and the collapse of the Soviet Union, among other factors, created a power vacuum in the region which Beijing has not hesitated to fill.