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The Bashi Channel (Chinese: 巴士海峽; pinyin: Bā shì hǎi xiá)^[1] is a waterway between Mavulis Island of the Philippines and Orchid Island of Taiwan. It is a part of the Luzon Strait and the East is the Pacific Ocean between the East China Sea and the South China Sea. It is characterized by windy storms during the rainy period, which lasts from June to December.

History

Controversy originating from the Bashi Channel started on the 1890's, when the Philippine Revolution commenced. The U.S. eventually won the revolution, with Spain signing a contract that land was going to be turned over to the United States. The Treaty of Paris in 1898 specifically said: "the northernmost part of the Philippine territory ceded by Spain to the U.S. ends at the 20th parallel, or south of the Balintang Channel." The Bashi Channel was not included here because original treaties signed in this period of time didn't use latitude and longitude.^[2]

Purpose

Map showing the Bashi Channel (AMS, 1950)

The Bashi Channel is an important passage for military operations. The Philippines and Taiwan dispute the ownership of the waters because both sides say the region lies within 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) of their shores. The channel is also significant to communication networks. Many of the undersea communication cables that carry data and telephone traffic between Asian countries pass through the Bashi Channel, making it a major potential point of failure for the Internet. In December 2006, a magnitude 6.7 submarine earthquake cut several undersea cables at the same time, causing a significant communications bottleneck that lasted several weeks.^[3]^[4]