Also Taiwan is claiming to be China and all that because the PRC wants to keep the status quo.
Taiwan actively asserts its ownership of the South China Sea.
https://en.mofa.gov.tw/theme.aspx?n=1462&s=40&sms=294
China’s claim is the same as Italy claiming the whole Mediterranean as their own because at some point the Roman empire claimed it
The claims of both the PRC and the ROC are based on their continued and historical use of certain islands in the sea. Vietnam makes the same claim. The tribunal ruled that those islands are too small to count. (Vietnam accepted the ruling. The PRC and the ROC both rejected the ruling.)
The Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei base their claims to the sea on the concept of an Exclusive Economic Zone, which under international maritime law extends 200 nautical miles from their shores.
Well, part of the issue is that they technically aren’t uninhabited anymore.
The largest naturally occurring island in the area is occupied by the ROC. A grand total of four civilians live there (and 220 troops). It has an airport that occupies the entire length of the island.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Island
Is four people enough to claim an island? Taiwan seems to think so, and they are a vital US ally.