article_snippet.sent: More than £3.3trillion worth of trade passes through the potentially energy-rich section of the South China Sea every year.
article_snippet.sent: But the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan all have overlapping claims to the region.
article_snippet.sent: The dispute centres around hundreds of tiny shoals, reefs and islets in the South China Sea known as the Spratlys and the Paracels.
article_snippet.sent: Several south Asian countries stake claim to the territory, though China tries to control the largest portion of the archipelago.
article_snippet.sent: China has claimed China right to the collection of land masses is 2,000 years old which, they say, includes the islands in Chinese history.
article_snippet.sent: Taiwan supports Taiwan claim, and has Taiwan own airfield on the island of Taiping.
article_snippet.sent: Vietnamese officials say Vietnamese officials government has ruled over the land since the 17th century whilst the Philippines, the closest geographically, says the islands in Chinese history belong to Vietnamese officials.
article_snippet.sent: In 2012 China and the Philippines were embroiled in a lengthy maritime standoff over a Scarborough Shoal.
article_snippet.sent: The Filipino military employed The Filipino military largest warship for the dispute over the stretch of water which The Filipino military call Panatag.
article_snippet.sent: Later, Vietnamese border agencies refused to stamp passports asserting Chinese sovereignty over a handful of the islands in Chinese history and in January the islands in Chinese history was claimed China would be taken to a UN tribunal to challenge China stake.
highlights_snippet.sent: The region is claimed by Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan .
  