The South China Sea is located in the southern part of China, the western Pacific Ocean, one of China's three major marginal seas. The natural sea area of this sea area is about 3.5 million square kilometers, of which the total area of China's territorial sea is about 2.1 million square kilometers, which is the largest and deepest sea area in China's coastal waters.
The South China Sea spans about 2,000 kilometers from north to south, and about 1,000 kilometers from east to west, starting from Nanao Island in Guangdong Province in the north and the southern tip of Taiwan Island in China, reaching Kalimantan Island and Sumatra Island in the south, China, Indochina Peninsula and Malay Peninsula in the west, and reaching the Philippines in the east.
There are more than 200 uninhabited islands and reefs in the South China Sea. The main archipelagos are Natuna Islands, Anambas Islands, Nansha Islands, Zhongsha Islands, Dongsha Islands, Xisha Islands, Zhongsha Islands, etc., among which the Nansha Islands, Zhongsha Islands, Dongsha Islands, Xisha Islands, and Zhongsha Islands are China's territory.
The South China Sea is the most critical hub and throat of the north-south corridor of the West Pacific Rim, and an extremely important strategic transportation lifeline related to China's survival and development. The South China Sea is bordered by southern Chinese mainland to the north, Indochina and the Malay Peninsula to the west, and the Philippine Islands and Greater Sunda Islands to the east and south.
The South China Sea connects the Taiwan Strait to the north and the East China SeaIt is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the three straits of the Bass Strait, the Babuyan Strait and the Balintang Strait in the eastSouthwest through the Strait of Malacca through the Indian Ocean. The South China Sea is a maritime corridor and intermediate station between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and is also one of the most important maritime routes between Western Europe, the Middle East and the Far East.
Second, the South China Sea is extremely rich in a variety of strategic resources, which play an indispensable role and influence on China's rapid economic growth and sustainable development. Authoritative research institutions believe that oil will remain an irreplaceable strategic resource for at least the next 100 years. According to the census data of the Ministry of Land and Resources of China, there are more than 10 known major oil-bearing basins on the continental shelf of the South China Sea, covering an area of about 85240,000 square kilometers, accounting for almost half of the total area of the continental shelf in the South China Sea. Among them, the South China Sea has oil reserves of at least 23 billion to 30 billion tons, accounting for more than 1.4 of the world's oil reserves20 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, which can be called the second"Persian Gulf"。
There is a large amount of combustible ice in the seabed of the South China Sea, with a resource of about 19.4 billion tons of oil equivalent, which is equivalent to six times the proven oil and gas geological reserves in deepwater exploration in the South China Sea. Combustible ice is"Gas hydrates"Combustion produces dozens of times more energy than coal, oil and natural gas, and does not produce any residue after combustion, so many experts believe that combustible ice is expected to replace coal, oil and natural gas as a promising new energy source in the 21st century.
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