Area 6,448 km² | Time zone China (UTC+8) | |
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Country | ||
The Zhongsha Islands are a collection of entirely submerged banks, seamounts, and shoals in the South China Sea. The two major features of the area are the Macclesfield Bank (Chinese: Zhōngshā) and the Scarborough Shoal. The whole of the region is claimed by the PRC and the ROC, and various bits of the western parts are claimed by the Philippines. No country has control of the region, and there are constant disputes - for example, see Scarborough Shoal standoff.
Contents
Map of Zhongsha Islands
The PRC claim to administer the area as Zhongsha District, a county-level area of the Sansha prefecture-level city in Hainan. It has one township-level division, Zhongsha Dao and Jiao Neighborhood Committee. However, the seat of this committee is not within the Zhongsha District.
Aquaculture research has been conducted on Walker Shoal.
Geography
The Zhongsha "Islands" include:
To the west, near the Paracel Islands:
To the east, near the Philippines:
To the north:
To the south, near the Spratly Islands: