Subject: Re: spratly islands update<br/>
Date: May 09, 2002 @ 17:17<br/>
Author: acroorca2002 (&quot;acroorca2002&quot; &lt;orc@...&gt;)<br/>
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<div id="ygrps-yiv-654127371">--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., &quot;m donner&quot; <br/>
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<blockquote><span title="ireply"> &gt; <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.middlebury.edu/SouthChinaSea/macand/">http://www.middlebury.edu/SouthChinaSea/macand/</a><br/>
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&gt; a map of the 45 spratly occupations & 6 national claims as of 1996 published <br/>
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&gt; in 2000<br/>
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&gt; along with detailed info on the 95 most major reefs & islets of the group<br/>
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<br/>
 </span></blockquote>but a closer look at the map & associated data reveals many omissions & even contradictions<br/>
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oops<br/>
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for example len dao reef & first thomas shoal are indicated on the map as chinese but in the text as vietnamese & unoccupied respectively<br/>
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also several islands with occupancy attributed in text arent on map<br/>
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also many islands have conflicting attributions of occupancy<br/>
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& either are or arent on map one way or another<br/>
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etc etc<br/>
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so my earlier best guess of 7 spratly de facto tripoints <br/>
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to produce a grand total of perhaps 503 world class tripoints <br/>
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must be withdrawn<br/>
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& fudged back to unknown pending better data if any ever<br/>
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but we are still around a very round 500 worldwide if anyone asks in the meantime <br/>
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m<br/>
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<blockquote><span title="qreply"> &gt; envisioning or drawing all the lines & dots between & around about them all <br/>
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&gt; mightnt be so easy<br/>
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&gt; & such projections will probably remain as shifty as the sands & waters <br/>
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&gt; themselves<br/>
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&gt; but i do believe that with these additional data the entire global de facto <br/>
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&gt; picture is now at least potentially & theoretically complete </span></blockquote></div>