Luzon Strait

Luzon Strait
Luzon Strait is located in Southeast Asia
Luzon Strait
Luzon Strait
Coordinates21°0′N 121°0′E / 21.000°N 121.000°E / 21.000; 121.000
Basin countriesLuzon island of the Philippines, Taiwan
Max. width250 kilometers (160 mi)
Max. depthca. 4,000 meters (13,000 ft)
The Luzon Strait between the islands of Luzon and Taiwan
Old map of the Luzon Strait

The Luzon Strait (Tagalog: Kipot ng Luzon, Chinese: 呂宋海峽; pinyin: Lǚsòng hǎixiá; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lū-sòng Hái-kiap) is the strait between Luzon and Taiwan. The strait thereby connects the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea in the western Pacific Ocean.[1][2]

This body of water is an important strait for shipping and communications. Many ships from the Americas use this route to go to important East Asian ports. Many submarine communications cables pass through the Luzon Strait. These cables provide important data and telephony services to mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.[3]

  1. ^ "Pacific Ocean". CIA World Factbook. Retrieved on June 20, 2011.
  2. ^ "Southeast Asia Map" Archived September 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. CIA World Factbook. Retrieved on June 20, 2011.
  3. ^ Greenlees, Donald and Arnold, Wayne (2006-12-29). "Asia scrambles to fix quake damage to data cables". CNET News.com.