ABSTRACT
The Spratly Islands, virtually unnoticed until the 1930s, now furnish many consider to be the key potential flashpoint in South-East Asia and possibly the entire Pacific region. Indonesia, France annexed the Spratly Islands in 1933. China and Japan protested the latter claiming continuous commercial occupation since 1917. In 1939, Japan annexed the islands, but in 1946 a Chinese naval expedition took possession and garrisoned Itu Aba. At the Treaty of San Francisco in 1951, Japan renounced its claim, but in 1954, after the division of Vietnam, South Vietnam lodged a claim. However, on 11 January 1974, China made a general protest and expelled the South Vietnamese from the Paracel Islands. In May 1976, the Philippines announced that a consortium starts exploration for petroleum in the area and the Provisional Revolutionary Government, China and Taiwan protested. A Vietnamese call for negotiations was rebuffed but on 13 April 1990, China made a proposal for the joint development of the Spratly Islands.
