Claims by Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines
The first contact with the Spratly Islands may have been as early as 600 BCE, when people migrated across the South China Sea.
Around the 17th century, both China and Vietnam charted and made claims to the islands, completely unaware that the other had done the same.
Itu Aba Island — the only inhabitable island and the only one with a freshwater supply — was claimed as part of French Indochina in 1887, turned into a submarine base by the Japanese during World War II, and placed under the administration of Taiwan in 1946.
Itu Aba has no long-term inhabitants but is also claimed by China, the Philippines, and Vietnam because of its rich fishing grounds and potentially significant reserves of oil and natural gas.
Recent reports indicate that China has seriously ramped up efforts to establish a military base on the disputed islands. Based on satellite imagery from Airbus Defense and Space, the Chinese have been dredging three new islands within the Subei Cross Reef where the islands are located and have built a military-length runway.
The final construction of a runway at the Subei Reef is likely to antagonize the Philippines, as the reef is "only 25 km from Thitu/Pagasa island, which is occupied by the Philippines and has a civilian population," according to IHS Jane's Defense Weekly.
As of February 2015, Beijing has completed advanced stages of construction for six different island reefs throughout the sea with construction starting on a seventh, according to Reuters
The islands will serve as forward operating bases for the Chinese military. Once construction is complete, Beijing will be able to use the bases to project their military force throughout the South China Sea.
The expansion of Chinese construction in the South China Sea is kicking off a series of territorial disputes with Beijing's neighbors in the south, all of whom also have competing maritime claims to the reefs and islands.