Philippines and Viet Nam try football diplomacy in the Spratlys
10 April 2012 – Philippine and Vietnamese sailors will play football and basketball matches on disputed South China Sea islands in a novel way to build trust in a region long feared as Asia’s next flashpoint for armed conflict. The three Asian nations, along with Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan, have been locked in a long-simmering rift over South China Sea territories, including the Spratlys — a chain of islands, reefs, and coral outcrops believed to be lying atop vast undersea deposits of oil and gas. The Spratly Islands also straddle one of the world’s busiest commercial sealanes.