Timeline of the South China Sea dispute

The article covers events that are related to the South China Sea dispute.

The Sa Huynh culture flourished in coastal South China Sea, especially in southern to central Vietnam, from Mekong Delta to Quang Binh province. The people that support Sa Huynh civilization were sea faring Austronesian-speaking people. The Sa Huynh relics can be found in several sites on the coasts of South China Sea, from Palawan in the Philippines to Orchid Island near Taiwan, suggesting that they sailed, settled and traded around the coasts of South China Sea.

It has been claimed by the People's Republic of China on the argument that since 200 BC Chinese fishermen have used the Spratly islands.

Two famous Chinese books authored by Wan Zhen of the Eastern Wu State and published during the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD) and a work titled Guangzhou Ji (Chronicles of Guangzhou) authored by Pei Yuan of the Jin Dynasties described the Paracel and Spratly islands. The local government of the Jin Dynasties exercised jurisdiction over the islands by sending patrolling naval boats to the surrounding sea areas.

Naval forces of the Song State of the Southern Dynasties (420–479 AD) patrolled the Paracel and Spratly islands. In the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD), the islands were placed under the administration and authority of the Qiongzhou Perfecture (now Hainan Province). Chinese administration of the South China Sea continued into the North and South Song dynasties (970–1279).

Archaeologists have found Chinese made potteries porcelains and other historical relics from the Southern dynasties (420–589), the Sui dynasties (581–618), the Tang dynasty (618–907), the Song Dynasties (960–1279), the Yuan dynasties (1206–1368), the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and later eras up to modern times on the South China Sea islands.

The South China Sea was known as the "Champa Sea" by sailors and traders in the region. It was named after a Hindu thalassocratic empire Champa that flourished in the area around that period.

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