Part of the Pacific Ocean.
Reaching from Japan to the southern end of the Malay Peninsula , it is divided by Taiwan into two sections. The northern section is the East China Sea, or Eastern Sea, which covers an area of 482,300 sq mi (1,249,157 sq km), has a maximum depth of 9,126 ft (2,782 m), and is enclosed by eastern China, South Korea, Kyushu island, Ryukyu Islands , and Taiwan. The southern section is the South China Sea, often called simply the China Sea, which covers an area of 895,400 sq mi (2,319,086 sq km), has a maximum depth of about 15,000 ft (4,600 m), and is enclosed by southeastern China, Indochina, the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, the Philippines, and Taiwan.