Spratly Islands

Spratly Islands
Chinese name
Traditional Cheenese	南沙群島
Simplifee'd Cheenese	南沙群岛
Transcriptions
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin	Nánshā Qúndǎo
Min
- Hokkien POJ	Lâm-soa Kûn-tó
Cantonese (Yue)
- Jyutping	nam4 saa1 kwun4 dou2
- Yale Romanisation	Nàhmsaa Kwùhndóu
Vietnamese name
Quốc ngữ	Quần Đảo Trường Sa
Hán tự	群島長沙
Malay name
Malay	Kepulauan Spratly
Filipino name
Tagalog	Kapuluan ng Kalayaan

Spratly Islands
Disputit islands
	Spratly Islands
Geography
Location	Sooth Cheenae Sea
Coordinates	10°N 114°E / 10°N 114°ECoordinates: 10°N 114°E / 10°N 114°E
Total islands	over 750
Major islands	Taiping Island; Namyit Island; Northeast Cay; Sin Cowe Island; Soothwast Cay; Spratly Island; Swallow Reef; Thitu Island; West York Island
less than 5 square kilometres (1.9 sq mi)
Coastline	926 kilometres (575 mi)
Heichest point	on Soothwast Cay; 4 metres (13 ft)
Admeenistered bi
Claimit bi
	Brunei
EEZ	Brunei zone
	Malaysie
State	Sabah
	Philippines
Municipality	Kalayaan
	Cheenae
Coonty	Administration Office for Xisha Islands, Zhongsha Islands and Nansha Islands
	Taiwan
Municipality	Kaohsiung
	Vietnam
Province	Khanh Hoa
Demographics
Population	nae indigenous population
Ethnic groups	various

The Spratly Islands are a group o mair than 750 reefs,^[1] islets, atolls, cays an islands in the Sooth Cheenae Sea. The archipelago lies aff the coasts o the Philippines an Malaysie (Sabah), aboot ane third o the wa frae there tae soothren Vietnam. They contain less than fower square kilometres o land aurie spread ower mair than 425,000 square kilometres o sea. The Spratlys are ane o three archipelagos o the Sooth Cheenae Sea which comprise mair than 30,000 islands an reefs an which complicate govrenance an economics in that region o Sootheast Asie. Such sma an remote islands hae little economic value in thairselves, but are important in establishin internaitional bundaries. There are nae native islanders but there are, at least for nou, rich fishin grunds; an initial surveys indicate the islands mey contain significant reserves o ile an natural gas.

Aboot 45 islands are occupee'd bi relatively sma numbers o militar forces frae Vietnam, the Fowkrepublic o Cheenae, the Republic o Cheenae (Taiwan), Malaysie an the Philippines. Brunei haes claimit an EEZ in the sootheastren pairt o the Spratlys an aw encompassin juist ane aurie o smaw islands abuin mean heich watter (on Louisa Reef).