evidence: The disputes over ownership of the South China Sea remained relatively dormant until the 1970s when China began asserting its vast territorial claims after discovering potential oil and gas reserves in the sea. In 1974 China seized the Paracel Islands from South Vietnam; more than 65 Vietnamese soldiers were killed in the process. China then took possession of Johnson Reef (part of the Spratly Islands) from Vietnam in 1988 and Mischief Reef (also part of the Spratlys), claimed by the Philippines, in 1994. China now controls the Paracel Islands in their entirety. The plurality of the Spratlys’ reefs and islands are controlled by Vietnam, while the Philippines and China each claim and operate on a sizable portion of the archipelago. Malaysia and Brunei both have claimed some features of the Spratly Islands as well as EEZs off their coasts that overlap with China’s claims. [...] In the early 2020s tensions intensified as maritime confrontations increased, especially between China and the Philippines, leading to joint naval drills between the Philippines and the United States in the South China Sea. In August 2023 China revealed a revised map of its territory in the South China Sea, which claimed an even larger portion of the sea. A 10th dash was added to include the island of Taiwan and nearly the entirety of the Spratly Islands as Chinese territory. Several countries rejected the map.