In contrast to Australia and New Zealand, Southeast Asia is a problematic region with regard to the Law of the Sea. The proclamation of sea zones has always resulted in a dispute with other countries and their demands. The archipelagic proclamation of Indonesia and the Philippines was rejected world-wide, especially by the great powers. Malaysia was also involved, because the archipelagic waters of Indonesia include the Natuna Islands and the Anambas Islands, thus separating West Malaysia from its East Malaysian provinces of Sarawak and Sabah. In the Gulf of Thailand the sea zones of Thailand and Vietnam overlap. In the South China Sea large areas are claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, the PRC, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Malaysia. The reason for the complex of regionalization conditions in this area lies in the geographical position of the states with regard to each other: the Pacific states of Southeast Asia are grouped around the South China Sea and its bays (Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tongking) in a more or less circular pattern. This is why all the areas claimed have a common centre. In addition, a number of historic claims date from a time when the political situation in this part of the world was completely different from the present one (for example, a number of states did not even exist and large areas were governed by European countries). The difficulties are multiplied by the large number of islands, particularly the numerous small islands (Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands) in the South China Sea, which actually never clearly belonged to any particular state because they were regarded as un- important. The process of establishing national maritime economic zones eventually led to open disputes. The quest for the largest possible sea zones can be explained by the fact that the Southeast Asian semi-enclosed seas (and the western part of the Pacific Ocean as a whole) are relatively shallow, and therefore provide favourable natural conditions for the exploration and exploitation of oil and for fishing (see Atlas for Marine Policy … 1983).