The four groups of uninhabited coral islets scattered in theSouth China Seahave been the object of territorial claims by the surrounding coastal states for the past few decades. The ownership issue became a serious territorial dispute in January 1974, when the forces of the People's Republic ofChinaand theRepublicofVietnamclashed over theParacelIslands. In many points, this South China Sea dispute is so similar to the Tiaoyut'ai‐Senkaku dispute of the East China Sea between China and Japan that the settlement of one is likely to bear on that of the other as well as on the development of marine resources in the two China Seas. It is not possible to determine the validity of the conflicting claims in either case. Relying on the available historic facts, however,China's claim to the Paracel and Spratly islands appears to be relatively stronger than that ofVietnam.

Ocean Development & International Law Volume 3, Issue 1, 1975 南沙与西沙的法律地位-丘宏达