Guang Niu/Getty Chinese navy soldiers guard on Navy Battleship of Wenzhou at Qingdao Port on April 22, 2009 in Qingdao of Shandong Province, China.
According to author and the chief geopolitical analyst for Stratfor, Robert D. Kaplan, "the South China Sea functions as the throat of the Western Pacific and Indian oceans - the mass of connective economic tissue where global sea routes coalesce."
"More than half of the world's annual merchant fleet tonnage passes through these choke points, and a third of all maritime traffic worldwide," Kaplan wrote in "Asia's Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific."
Territorial claims from Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Taiwan, and China make the South China Sea one of the most disputed territories on the planet.
Meanwhile, China claims the majority of the contested region, which is home to $5 trillion in annual global trade.
To that end, by 2030, the entire region is predicted to be nothing more than a "Chinese lake."
Business Insider has selected six charts that explain why the South China Sea is so valuable.