When China's defeated Nationalists fled to Taiwan in 1949, they brought with them territorial claims to all of China, including a then unimportant group of islands in the South China Sea. Today, Taiwan claims sovereignty over a wide swathe of this sea defined by an "eleven-dashed line" nearly identical to China's "nine-dashed line" dilineating its own claims in the area. Taiwan's military also maintains a presence on Taiping, the largest of the contested Spratley Islands, and on Pratas island in the northern South China Sea. Ironically, the identical claims put forward by Beijing and Taipei have brought them into a sort of alignment, especially when contrasted with Washington's vision for the region. The United States wants Taiwan to become a "responsible stakeholder" in the disputed waters by curtailing its claims and coming into accord with U.N. conventions.