September 21, 2026: China continues its efforts to take control of offshore areas bordering China, the Philippines, South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and any other islands or coastal areas it considers worth going after. Currently, China is placing a 16MW wind turbine barge 80 kilometers from Taiwan-controlled Pratas Island. This comes after decades of Chinese efforts to build military bases in the South China Sea, many of them in waters that are recognized as within the Filipino EEZ.

One of the oldest disputes is in the South China Sea, where China claims large areas of the Philippines' EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone), which extends 360 kilometers from the nearest land area . The Philippines lacks the military power to effectively oppose Chinese territorial claims.

Three of the most contested areas are the Spratly Islands, Lincourt Rocks, and the Diaoyu/Senkakus Islands

The Spratlys are a group of about 100 islets, atolls, and reefs that total only about 5 square kilometers of land but sprawl across about 410,000 square kilometers of the South China Sea. Set amid some of the world's most productive fishing grounds, the islands are believed to have enormous oil and gas reserves. Several nations claim overlapping parts of the group. China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam currently occupy about 45 of the islands with small numbers of military personnel. Brunei has established a fishing zone in the area but has made no territorial claims. From time to time, small-scale confrontations and occasional clashes have occurred between some of these countries over ownership of the islands. In November of 2002, most of these countries signed the "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea," a vague agreement that has eased tensions but is not actually legally binding. In March of 2005, the national oil companies of China, the Philippines, and Vietnam signed a joint accord to cooperate in exploring for oil in the islands. Called Taiping Island by the Taiwanese, Ita Aba is one of the largest of the group, at about 489,600 sq. meters. Taiwan has controlled it since the mid-1950s, and it has largely served as a way station for fishermen. Vietnam also claims the island, calling it Thai Binh. Taiwan has long maintained a small military presence on the island and eventually built an airfield. Vietnam, which controls the largest group of islands, has lodged protests, as has the Philippines, since it also claims the island. The Vietnamese, who have refurbished an old South Vietnamese airstrip on Big Spratly Island, have protested the action, citing it as a violation of the 2002 declaration. Taiwan is not a signatory and is likely to ignore the protest. China, which claims the entire archipelago, either keeps quiet or backs Taiwan.

Koreans call the Liancourt Rocks the Dokdo Islands, and the Japanese call them the Takeshima Islands. They comprise two rocky islets and about 32 rocky outcrops, with a total land area of 175,000 sq meters, and lie in the Sea of Japan (known as the East Sea to the Koreans), about 140 kilometers off Korea and roughly the same distance from Japan. South Korea occupies the islands and maintains a small coast guard station and a lighthouse there. Dokdo sits in the middle of a rich fishing ground, and thus its ownership determines who gets to harvest the fish. The situation is complicated by the extreme hostility Koreans traditionally feel toward Japan. Recent assertions by Japanese leaders - including their ambassador to South Korea - that the island is Japanese (and continued Japanese insensitivity about its colonial role in Korea) have led to periodic massive street protests across Korea since February of 2005. The next month, the South Korean Air Force scrambled four F-5 fighters to intercept a Cessna from a Japanese newspaper that was approaching the islands. In June, South Korean and Japanese patrol boats played chicken around the islands, and recently the Chief of Staff of the South Korean Air Force, Gen. Kim Sung Il, personally flew an F-15K fighter out to the islands to assert Korean sovereignty. Japan has not yet responded to this move but is expected to send several aircraft shortly.

The Diaoyu/Senkakus Islands. Japan has a similar dispute with China over a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, known to China and Taiwan as the Diaoyu Islands and to Japan as the Senkaku Islands. As with Dokdo, the area is rich in fish, and, as with Spratlys, is reputed to have extensive natural gas reserves. The Japanese Coast Guard has detained over a dozen Taiwanese fishing boats in the area, releasing them only after stiff fines. This has led to massive demonstrations by Taiwanese fishermen, including, in one instance, a massive flotilla of over 60 fishing boats that brazenly violated the Japanese claim. In addition, the Taiwanese government, normally very reluctant to criticize Japan (a potential ally against China), dispatched its defense minister and a delegation of members of parliament aboard two missile frigates on a tour of the disputed area.