ABSTRACT
The Spratly Islands, which lie between Palawan, Borneo and South Vietnam, are the focus of a dispute between China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. If China's claim is found to be illegitimate, its claim to domination of the South China Sea would hence be thwarted, but on a much more serious note, such a decision would frustrate China's international naval ambitions. Under the current circumstances, they can also form limited coalitions, although this appears unlikely to be effective given Relations between China and Indonesia, the largest ASEAN member state with nearly 300 million inhabitants, and Singapore, the smallest with 5.5 million inhabitants. A maritime agency against terrorism and piracy in the Malacca Strait was also jointly established by Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand in an operation called 'Eyes of the Sky'. In reality, there is a significant cluster of shared interests between China and ASEAN due to a shared historical experience of foreign occupations.
