The waters off the coast of Southeast Asia are sprinkled with thousands of small uninhabited islands, including reefs, shoals, rocks and atolls — sometimes either temporarily or permanently submerged. Their legal status as "islands" under international law is contentious. They are essentially useless, except that the location of some allows them to serve as potential territorial fenceposts, which could allow states to extend their maritime claims. Because of this, many islands have become the subject of bitter territorial disputes between nation-states, which have gone to great lengths to establish a foothold.
One of the best examples of this can be seen in an atoll called the Second Thomas, or Ayungin, Shoal — claimed by both China and the Philippines. In order to beef up their claims, the Philippines have grounded a World War II-era ship on a small reef and permanently stationed a small group of marines aboard. The Chinese have also built-up small airstrips from the shallow water by dredging up soil in order to support their own small personnel presence. To further defend these claims, states have deployed fleets of fishing vessels and coast guards to physically assert control without escalating to exchanges of fire, instead resorting to ramming, spraying with hoses or shouldering competitors out of the area.
The territorial claims serve a defensive but also an economic purpose for states. The waters around these rocks and reefs contain food resources in the form of fish and, in some cases, extractable energy resources, including oil and natural gas. States seek right to exploit these resources and the capability of defending them. This comes with a risk — island disputes remain potential flashpoints and miscalculation could quickly break into armed conflict amid rising regional tensions.
