
China lays ever larger claim to South China Sea Asia Times
The deepest section, called the China Sea Basin, has a maximum depth of 16,457 feet (5,016 metres). A broad, shallow shelf extends up to 150 miles (240 km) in width between the mainland and the northwestern side of the basin and includes the Gulf of Tonkin and Taiwan Strait. To the south, off southern Vietnam, the shelf narrows and connects.
[...]