As a whole, China's Nansha Islands have territorial waters, exclusive economic zones and continental shelves, and China has indisputable sovereignty over Nansha Islands and adjacent waters. However, among the more than 230 islands and reefs in the Nansha Islands, there are eight single reefs, and their reef flats are vast, which can be called "giant" islands and reefs
Baijiao is an oval-shaped coral atoll located in the interior of the Nansha Sea, southeast of the famous Yinqing Reef, about 50 nautical miles apart. The reef is 33 kilometers long, about 5 kilometers wide at its widest point, and covers an area of 664 square kilometers, of which the lagoon area is 169 square kilometers, reef area of 495 square kilometers.
Baijiao is a continuous closed single atoll, the sea depth is extremely shallow, a large area of land is exposed at low tide, the cost of land reclamation is very low, and the geographical location of Baijiao is special, fishery and mineral resources are abundant, so Baijiao is the most strategically valuable island and reef in Nansha.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan and took control of the islands in the South China Sea. In 1960, Taiwan withdrew its troops to Baijiao, and Baijiao remained uncontrolled for the next 18 years. Until 1978, Malaysia saw an opportunity to take advantage of it, so it sent troops to occupy Cypress Reef, but at that time, Malaysia did not have enough understanding of the strategic value of Cypress Reef, and insisted on it for a period of time and thought that it was worthless, so it did not carry out large-scale construction and key garrisons.
In February 1987, Vietnam seized the reef and built three reef forts at both ends and in the middle of the reef, garrisoning more than 40 troops, and then controlling the reef to this day.
Liumen Reef is a giant coral reef, located in the middle of the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea, a large oval coral atoll in the east of the Yinqing Reef, it has 6 reefs, all located in the southwest of the atoll, one of which is 9 meters deep and can pass dozens of tons of ships. Liumen Reef extends about 20 kilometers from east to west. The middle part is about 7 degrees wide4 km. The total area is 725 square kilometers, of which the reef area is 368 square kilometers with a lagoon area of 357 square kilometers.
After the 1988 Battle of Chikua Reef, China abandoned plans to garrison some of the reefs, and Vietnam seized the opportunity to seize control of these reefs, including Liumen Reef. Subsequently, Vietnam built a simple reef fort on Liumen Reef to actually control Liumen Reef. After years of reclamation, there are 6 military strongholds on it, and 50 Vietnamese troops are stationed here.
Liumen Reef is close to the Nanhua Waterway, and after it is completely filled, Vietnam will certainly strengthen its garrison at Liumen Jiao and monitor the Nanhua Waterway, and once a war breaks out, it will seriously affect the smooth southward route of the Chinese Navy.
The Yuya Dark Shoal is a large atoll. The northern (Dijiao) and eastern (Linear Reefs) reefs are exposed at low tide, and the western reefs are still exposed at high tide. The mouth gate is developed in the southeast, southwest and northwest three sides, and the southeast gate is more than 300 meters wide and 36 meters deep6 meters, and there is still a depth of 11 meters at the point reef. Yuya Atoll has Jinwu Dark Sand in the southeast and Wangruo Reef in the northwest, which is a small atoll. There are reef gates in the south, southwest and northwest for dozens of tons of ships to enter and exit. Yuya Dark Sands is China's inherent territory, and China has indisputable sovereignty over it.
However, in June 1999, Yuya Shoal was illegally occupied by Malaysia.
Commander Reef is located at the confluence of the western international waterway and the South China Waterway in the South China Sea, and can hold the Balabac Strait.
It is a long atoll with no mouth and no mouth to enter the lagoon. The depth of the lagoon is 55-14.5 meters, ** has a height of 0A 6-metre sandbar divides the shallow lake into two, resembling spectacles, with a reef at the eastern end 03 meters. The atoll is 16 km long and has a total area of 275 square kilometers. The outer slope of the reef is steep, and the water depth suddenly changes to 2,000 meters. The reef was occupied by the Philippines in 1980. The Philippines has built a stilt house on the sandbar in the middle, guarded by Filipino soldiers, and the rest of the place has remained untouched.
East Reef develops in the central part of the South China Sea, east of Yinqing Reef, and is a component of it. Among them, in terms of the development of the entire reef body and the reef plate, East Reef is undoubtedly the core reef of Yinqing Group Reef. The East Reef is an atoll, 13 kilometers long from east to west, about 4 kilometers narrow from north to south, and the reef area is 416 square kilometers, the reef flat is 251 square kilometer. It can be seen that the reef area of East Reef, that is, the area of permanent land that can be reclaimed from the sea, is 2 of Mischief Island5 times, if it is expanded in the same proportion as Mischief Island, it can be expanded to at least 1415 square kilometers.
It was occupied by Vietnam in 1988 in order to contain Huayang Island in China.
Nanhua Reef is a rare and valuable large coral atoll in the central part of China's Nansha Islands. It is located in the middle of the Nansha Islands, on the east side of Yinqing Reef, 21 nautical miles west of Wuqi Reef. Nanhua Reef is about 10 kilometers long from north to south, with a total area of 34 square kilometers, of which the reef area is 223. The area of the middle lagoon is 117 square kilometers.
It was illegally occupied by Vietnam in 1988.
Located in the southwest of Gaven Reef, Daxian Reef is a long atoll with a length of 13 kilometers and an area of 248 square kilometers. Exposed at low tide. The lagoon is deep and has no reef gates. During the 1988 Battle of Chigua Reef, China was stationed at Daxian Reef for a time, but voluntarily withdrew, and was soon occupied by Vietnam.
Vietnam has built four reef forts in three locations on the reef, garrisoning about 50 troops.
In 2012, Vietnam built the largest apron.
The South China Sea Reef is located in the central east of the Nansha Islands, and directly west of it is the largest isolated reef in the entire Nansha Reef - Baijiao Reef, which is about 65 kilometers away. To the south of the reef are Guangxing Reef and Guangxingzi Reef, which are about 18 nautical miles away. To the east and northeast are Andu Beach, Dustpan Reef and Yuya Dark Sands.
The entire reef body of the South China Sea reef is distributed from north to south, with an area of 217 square kilometers, of which the reef area is 194 square kilometers. The reef extends in the same direction as Commander Reef, with a length of 11 km from northwest to southeast. The South China Sea Reef has two lagoons. The entire lagoon area is 2At 3 square kilometers, the lagoon on the north side of the reef is large and deep, and is a natural place for ships to dock, while the lagoon on the south side is relatively small and not deep.
It was occupied by Malaysia in 1979.