Beijing claims all of the Spratly chain. The Paracels, north of the Spratly Islands, are claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam. On May 25, the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey sailed less than 12 nautical miles from a reef in the Spratly archipelago. China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Further angering those countries, and the US, Beijing has moved aggressively to build reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 30, 2018 18:33 UTC