On Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told journalists that China has "indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and adjacent waters, which has abundant historical and legal grounds".

BBC: China reiterates islands claim after Philippine UN move

Bacuit Bay, home to an archipelago of 45 islands bordering the South China Sea, occupies a place in the Filipino psychogeography like Alaska's in the American imagination: an unspoiled national Eden that few citizens ever get around to visiting.

WSJ: The Philippines's Strange Paradise

About half of all US troops based in Japan are stationed in Okinawa, which lies south of Japan's main islands in the East China Sea.

BBC: US troops held over Okinawa alleged rape