Don,
You are thinking of the South China Sea area and the Spratly Islands, near the Philippines. See my post # 12. and this fairly accurate Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_disputes_in_the_South_China_Sea
Although there may very well be oil in the East China Sea as well, I believe this is more of China moving it’s “border” several hundred miles to the east
China is setting Obama up for another US stand-down with the hegemony of the East Pacific at stake.