Tensions between China and its neighbors have escalated in the South China Sea, and between China and Japan in the East China Sea.

The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around .

The South China Sea belongs to China! many declared.

The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north.

The Sea of Crete (, Kritiko Pelagos ) is the sea south of the Aegean Sea, north of the island Crete, and south of the Cyclades.

Calming the South China Sea

The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China.

The ARF welcomed the adoption of Guidelines for Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

Surrounded by China to the north, and a number of South East Asian countries, the South China Sea covers an area of around 4 million square meters.

Meanwhile, Asia is being roiled by intensifying territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas, as countries revive old claims against each other. East and South Asia are embroiled in an arms race, mainly at sea.

Avoiding Conflict in the South China Sea

The biggest troublemaker in the South China Sea

In the South China Sea, China is developing systems to allow large scale deployment of naval and air force units by fortifying bases on Hai Nan Island and the southern Chinese coastal area.

From San Francisco to the South China Sea

Along the Pacific Ocean's irregular western margins lie many seas, the largest of which are the Celebes Sea, Coral Sea, East China Sea, Philippine Sea, Sea of Japan, South China Sea, Sulu Sea, Tasman Sea, and Yellow Sea.

Western Bahr el Ghazal is one of the ten states of South Sudan.

Map showing territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Hatoyama was naïve enough to declare publicly his intention of turning the East China Sea into a Chinese led Sea of Fraternity.

To the west is the Yellow Sea, to the south is the East China Sea, and to the east is Ulleung do and Liancourt Rocks in the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

OSAKA Territorial and maritime disputes among China, Taiwan, and several Southeast Asian countries are roiling the South China Sea region, with little prospect of resolution anytime soon.

In other words, a few rocks in the South China Sea have put China between a rock and a hard place.

Ask ten Chinese, and nine will tell you unequivocally that the South China Sea belongs to China.

This is the area China has delineated by a nine dash line across much of the South China Sea.

In November, China foiled ASEAN members efforts to create a multilateral forum and an agreed code of conduct to govern economic and security activity in the South China Sea.

Less than an hour before, my iPad screen had flashed with news alerts that quickly became China s PR nightmare an international tribunal had dismissed Beijing s expansive claims over the South China Sea, where China has been locked in a bitter territorial fight with a number of South East Asian countries.

Americans are the biggest troublemaker in the South China Sea!! he shouted in anger.

As recent events in the East and South China Seas show, China sometimes attempts to strong arm its neighbors.

The same can be said for China s growing stridency with respect to its claims in the South China Sea.

And Chinese intransigence over the South China Sea is a direct result of the economic bonanza it suspects lies on the seabed.

On a regional level, the investment focus is to be on the Black Sea, the North Sea region, the Caspian region, the Middle East and Sub Saharan Africa.

U.S. Navy and Republic of Singapore ships steam through the South China Sea in 2008.

The main island of the is the largest of the South China Sea Islands.

These regions are located in the south of Finland, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, which is part of the Baltic Sea.

İmralı is a small Turkish island in the south of the Sea of Marmara, west of the Armutlu Bozburun peninsula within Bursa Province.

Tensions are also running high in the East China Sea, where the two countries dispute sovereignty over a number of islands.

In effect, China is in the process of building a group of literally unsinkable aircraft carriers in the middle of the South China Sea.

NEW DELHI The year 2012 began with festering Chinese sovereignty claims in the South and East China Seas, but also with hope that a code of conduct brokered by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations would enable them to be resolved peacefully.

Maritime cooperation was a focus of attention at both the ARF ministerial meeting and at the EAS, not least because China s activities in the South and East China Seas have generated fresh uncertainty in the region.

Geography The islands are the easternmost in Maluku province, and are located in the Arafura Sea southwest of New Guinea and north of Australia.

The Scotia Sea is a sea that is located in both the Southern Ocean and the South Atlantic Ocean.

If Japan were to yield, the South China Sea would become even more fortified.

Making good on its claim to the South China Sea could be next.

The fears of China s rulers, I suspect, do not bode well for reaching a peaceful resolution of its territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas.

Last year, China formally staked a claim under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to more than 80 of the South China Sea.

If left unchecked, China may use the South China Sea disputes to gain effective hegemony over weaker claimants.