Luzon Strait

The Luzon Strait is an important strait connecting the Philippine Sea, in the western Pacific, to the South China Sea, between Taiwan and Luzon in the Philippines.

The strait is approximately 250 km wide. It contains a number of islands grouped into two groups: the Batanes Islands of Batanes province and the Babuyan Islands of Cagayan province.

The strait is divided into a number of smaller channels. The Babuyan Channel separates Luzon from the Babuyan Islands, which is separated from the Batanes Islands by the Balintang Channel. Batanes is separated from Taiwan by the Bashi Channel.

This is an important strait for shipping and communications. Many ships from the Americas use this route to go important East Asian ports. Many submarine communications cables pass through the Luzon Strait. These cables provide important data and telephony services to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. [ [http://news.com.com/Asia+scrambles+to+fix+quake+damage+to+data+cables/2100-1037_3-6146387.html?tag=nefd.top Asia scrambles to fix quake damage to data cables - CNET News.com ] ]

History

The Luzon Strait was part of the Japanese invasion route in December 1941. On December 8 (the same day as the Pearl Harbor attack, because of the date line), they landed on Batanes. On December 10, they occupied Camiguin Island (not the same as the Camiguin just north of Mindanao) in a soon-abandoned attempt to establish a seaplane base, and on the same day landed at Aparri on Luzon.

Subsequently, many US submarines hunted Japanese convoys passing through the strait on their way from the East Indies to Japan.

References