Itu Aba
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Taiping Island, also known as Itu Aba, and also known by various other names, is the largest of the naturally occurring
Spratly Islands The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed o ...
in the
South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...
. The island is elliptical in shape being in length and in width, with an area of . It is located on the northern edge of the
Tizard Bank The Tizard Bank, is a partially sunken atoll and one of the significant maritime features of the north-western part of the Spratly Islands. It is claimed by the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, and Vietnam, and various parts of it ...
(Zheng He Reefs; 鄭和群礁). The runway of the
Taiping Island Airport Taiping Island Airport () is an airport on Taiping Island, Cijin District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It is located in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. The island (named Itu Aba before 1946See Taiping Island for more information.) belongs to the ...
is easily the most prominent feature on the island, running its entire length. The island is administered by the
Republic of China (Taiwan) Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
, as part of
Cijin Cijin District (; Hokkien POJ: ''Kî-tin-khu'') is a district of Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, covering Cijin Island () and islands in the South China Sea. It is the second smallest district in Kaohsiung City after Yancheng District, with an area of ...
,
Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsi ...
. It is also claimed by the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
(PRC), the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
and
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. In 2016, in the ruling by an arbitral tribunal in the intergovernmental
Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that arise ...
, in the case brought by the Philippines against China, the tribunal classified Itu Aba as a "rock" under
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 167 c ...
(UNCLOS) (and therefore not entitled to a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf). Both Taiwan (ROC) and PRC/China rejected this ruling. The adjacent unpopulated
Zhongzhou Reef Zhongzhou Reef also known as Ban Than Reef and Centre Cay ( Mandarin ; vi, Bãi Bàn Than) is a small coral reef on the north edge of the Tizard Bank in the Spratly Islands, South China Sea under administration by the Republic of China (Taiwan) . ...
(Ban Than Reef) is also under the control of Taiwan.


Names

In 1946 the
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
named it Taiping Island () in honor of a Nationalist Chinese Navy warship which sailed to the island when Japan surrendered after the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The name Taiping Island is used by both the government in Taipei and in Beijing. The island was also called ''Huángshānmǎ Jiāo'' () and ''Huángshānmǎ Zhì'' () by Chinese fishermen. Outside of China and Taiwan, a common name for the island is Itu Aba, which was in use prior to 1946. Two different etymological origins have been proposed for this name: that it is a
Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...
expression meaning "What's that?" (spelled in ); or that it is a corruption of
Hainanese Hainanese (Hainan Romanised: ', Hainanese Pinyin: ',), also known as Qióngwén, Heng2 vun2 () or Qióngyǔ, Heng2 yi2 (), is a group of Min Chinese varieties spoken in the southern Chinese island province of Hainan and Overseas Chinese su ...
''Widuabe'' (). Some Western sources including U.S. government publications continue to use "Itu Aba" as the primary designator of the land feature, often with "Taiping" in parentheses. The Vietnamese name for the island is Ba Binh ( vi, Đảo Ba Bình, lit=calm wave/sea island, ) and the
Philippine English Philippine English (similar and related to American English) is any variety of English native to the Philippines, including those used by the media and the vast majority of educated Filipinos and English learners in the Philippines from adjac ...
name is Ligao Island (or in
Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
/). During the
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
occupation of the island 1939–45, the name was used.


History

From before the 1870s the island was used by fishermen from
Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...
. They had a semi-permanent settlement. Supplies were shipped from Hainan to island in exchange for turtle shells. China first asserted sovereignty in the modern sense to the South China Sea's island when it formally objected to France's efforts to incorporate Itu Aba and other islands and rocks into French Indochina during the 1884–1885 Sino-French war. France eventually incorporated the Paracel and Spratly islands into French Indochina. In 1932, a year after the Japanese formally invaded northeast China (Manchuria), France formally claimed both the Paracel and Spratly Islands. China and Japan both protested. On the 6th of April 1933, France seized the Spratlys, formally included them in French Indochina, and built a couple of weather stations on them, but did not disturb the numerous Chinese fishermen it found there. On the 3rd of July 1938, French Indochinese colonial troops also formally occupied the Paracel islands in the name of French Indochina. The following year in March 1933, Japan took both the Paracel and Spratly islands from France, garrisoned them, and built a submarine base at Itu Aba (now Taiping / 太平) Island. In 1941, the Japanese Empire made the Paracel and Spratly islands part of Taiwan, then under its rule. In 1945, in accordance with the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations and with American help, the armed forces of the Republic of China government at Nanjing accepted the surrender of the Japanese garrisons in Taiwan, including the Paracel and Spratly Islands. Nanjing then declared both archipelagoes to be part of Guangdong Province. It was administratively attached to the municipality of Takao (Kaohsiung) in the Japanese colony of Taiwan. On 6 November 1946, the ROC government sent four warships to the South China Sea to secure islands within the region, commanded by Lin Zun and Yao Ruyu (姚汝鈺): ''ROCS Chung-Yeh'' (中業號), ''ROCS Yung-hsing'' (永興號), ' (太平號) and ''ROCS Chung-chien'' (中建號). The warships departed from
Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
and headed towards the Spratly and Paracel island groups. On 12 December the two ships led by Lin Zun, ''ROCS Tai-ping'' and ''ROCS Chung-Yeh'', arrived at Taiping Island. In commemoration of the island being secured, the island was chosen to be named after the ''ROCS Tai-ping'' warship, and thus a stone stele reading "Taiping island" was erected on a breakwater tip southwest of the island.吕一燃 (Lu Yiran), 2007. 中国近代边界史 (A modern history of China's borders), Vol. 2. 四川人民出版社 (Sichuan People's Publishing), pp.1092–1093. This expedition was assisted with US naval logistical support. The other three ships likewise had their names used: Woody Island (in the Paracels) was named Yongxing (Yung-hsing) Island (presently PRC-occupied), Triton Island (Paracels) was named Zhongjian (Chung-chien) Island (presently PRC-occupied), and Thitu Island (Spratlys) was named Zhongye (Chung-Yeh) Island (presently Philippines-occupied). After being secured by Nationalist China, the island was placed under the administration of China's
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
Province. When the
Chinese Communists The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...
gained control of mainland China, the defeated Nationalists retreated to Taiwan, but retained control of the Taiping garrison. Japan officially renounced its control and transferred the island to the trusteeship of the Allied Powers within the
San Francisco Peace Treaty The , also called the , re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers on behalf of the United Nations by ending the legal state of war and providing for redress for hostile actions up to and including World War II. It w ...
on September 8, 1951. A different interpretation is that Japan officially renounced its sovereignty and transferred the island to the Republic of China under the provisions of the Taipei Peace Treaty. In 1952, a Philippine civilian began to mine sulfur from Taiping Island and that same year, a note attached to the
Treaty of Taipei The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (), formally the Treaty of Peace between the Republic of China and Japan () and commonly known as the Treaty of Taipei (), was a peace treaty between Japan and the Republic of China (ROC) signed in Taipei, Taiwan o ...
provided the Nationalist Chinese arguments for sovereignty over the island. The Nationalists established a permanent presence on the island in July 1956. From 2000, a detachment of the ROC
Coast Guard Administration The Coast Guard Administration of the Ocean Affairs Council (CGA; ), also known as the Taiwan Coast Guard or R.O.C. Coast Guard, is charged with maintaining law and order, protecting the resources of the territorial waters of the Republic of Chin ...
was stationed on the island, replacing the
Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
detachment. The
Taiping Island Airport Taiping Island Airport () is an airport on Taiping Island, Cijin District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It is located in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. The island (named Itu Aba before 1946See Taiping Island for more information.) belongs to the ...
was completed in December 2007, and a
C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 ...
transporter airplane first landed on the island on 21 January 2008. On 2 February 2008, ROC president
Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian (; born 12 October 1950) is a retired Taiwanese politician and lawyer who served as the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whic ...
personally visited the island accompanied by a significant naval force including two fleets with Kidd class destroyer flagships and two submarines. On 19 April 2011, it was announced that the Marine Corps would once again be stationed on the island. In February 2012, the ROC began construction of an antenna tower and associated facilities with the purpose of providing navigation assistance for aircraft landing. The tower had a planned height of approximately 7 to 8 metres (25'), and was scheduled to be completed in April 2012, and fully functional after proper testing in September 2012. In July 2012, ROC authorities revealed a project which intended to extend the runway by 500 metres (660 yards), which would allow the island to accommodate various kinds of military aircraft. In late August 2013, the ROC government announced that it would spend US$112 million on upgrading the island's airstrip, and constructing a dock capable of allowing its 3,000-ton Coast Guard cutters to dock, due to be completed by 2016. On July 12, 2016, a tribunal of the
Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that arise ...
backed the Philippines in an arbitration proceedings against China's " nine-dash line" claim which includes Taiping Island controlled by Taiwan. Both China and Taiwan have strongly rejected the ruling.


Geography


Ecology

The flora and fauna present on and surrounding the island include
swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae, are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...
s,
papaya The papaya (, ), papaw, () or pawpaw () is the plant species ''Carica papaya'', one of the 21 accepted species in the genus ''Carica'' of the family Caricaceae. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within modern-day southern Mexico and ...
plant, coast oak,
terminalia Terminalia may refer to: * Terminalia (festival), a Roman festival to the god of boundaries Terminus * ''Terminalia'' (plant), a tree genus * Terminalia (insect anatomy), the terminal region of the abdomen in insects * ''Polyscias terminalia'', a ...
trees, lotus leaf tung tree,
goodeniaceae Goodeniaceae is a family (biology), family of flowering plants in the Order (biology), order Asterales. It contains about 404 species in twelve genera. The family is distributed mostly in Australia, except for the genus ''Scaevola (plant), Scaevo ...
, sea lemon, long stem
chrysanthemum Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the center ...
, long-saddle
rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of ...
, gray grass,
coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...
tree,
banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...
tree,
white-tailed tropicbird The white-tailed tropicbird (''Phaethon lepturus'') is a tropicbird. It is the smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans and smallest member of the order Phaethontiformes. It is found in the tropical Atlantic, western Paci ...
,
sparrow hawk Sparrowhawk (sometimes sparrow hawk) may refer to several species of small hawk in the genus ''Accipiter''. "Sparrow-hawk" or sparhawk originally referred to ''Accipiter nisus'', now called "Eurasian" or "northern" sparrowhawk to distinguish it f ...
, tropical fish,
jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella- ...
and various other organisms. The Island is also a nesting ground for
green sea turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...
s migrating from Philippines.


Geology and landform

The island has a long and narrow shape that is low and flat, that is approximately 1,289.3 metres (1410 yards) long and 365.7 metres (400 yards) wide. The area of the north–south coastline is 41.3 hectares (102 acres), and the coastal vegetation line range is 36.6 hectares (90 acres). The mean tidewater over land area is approximately 49 hectares (120 acres), and during low sea tides the water reefs and land area is 98 hectares (250 acres), 4-6 metres (13' to 20') above sea level. Since Taiping island is a coral island, the surface includes fine sand and coral reefs formed by weathering. Around the island are sandy beaches, with narrower beaches on the south and north sides 5 metres (16') wide, on the east side 20 metres (65') wide, and on the southwest side 50 metres (165') wide. The sand accumulated on the beach is rosy coloured, mainly formed from red coral fragments and shell debris. A 523-metre long core sample was obtained by the
CPC Corporation CPC Corporation () is a state-owned petroleum, natural gas, and gasoline company in Taiwan and is the core of the Taiwanese petrochemicals industry. History Early history CPC was founded on 1 June 1946 in Shanghai as Chinese Petroleum Corpo ...
. The rock layers were estimated to be as old as 780,000 years at the 43-metre mark and over 2 million years past the 130-metre mark.


Natural resources

The island has historically been mined for phosphates to the point of exhaustion, and today has no major natural resources. There is potentially a large amount of undiscovered reserves of oil and natural gas beneath surrounding waters within the South China Sea Basin, however, there has yet to be formal exploration and mining conducted.


Weather

Taiping Island has a tropical monsoon climate, with the temperature varying between 21 and 35 degrees Celsius (70 to 90°F). There is a strong southwest monsoon in summer months in June and July, with strong southwest wind and currents, and during the time typhoons become frequent there is abundant rainfall. The rainy season occurs during November and December.


Government and politics

The island, along with the rest of the Spratlys, is disputed by four countries on historical, geographic, legal and/or technical grounds, in pursuit of fishing rights, shipping lanes, and the potential of
petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...
and
natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
beneath the South China Sea. Although it is anticipated that the South China Sea basin is abundant in oil and natural gas, the waters surrounding Taiping Island have yet to be formally surveyed or extracted.
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
legislator Lin Yu-fang has stated that the
Chinese Petroleum Corporation CPC Corporation () is a state-owned petroleum, natural gas, and gasoline company in Taiwan and is the core of the Taiwanese petrochemicals industry. History Early history CPC was founded on 1 June 1946 in Shanghai as Chinese Petroleum Corpo ...
has not excluded the option of prospecting territorial waters in the near future, with the military providing naval escort assistance upon directive from the National Security Council of the Republic of China. Taiping Island is administered under the
Municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
of
Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsi ...
City,
Cijin District Cijin District (; Hokkien POJ: ''Kî-tin-khu'') is a district of Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, covering Cijin Island () and islands in the South China Sea. It is the second smallest district in Kaohsiung City after Yancheng District, with an area of ...
, by the Republic of China (Taiwan). Postal service is provided by
Chunghwa Post Chunghwa Post Co., Ltd. is the official postal service of Taiwan (officially the Republic of China). Chunghwa Post was a government agency of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications until 2003, when it was reorganized into a governm ...
under the assigned area code "819". The Republic of China (Taiwan) military postal service uses the designation "post office branch 68" ("68局") for postage services for the island. The total population of the island is about 600 with no civilians. Land pricing is managed by the Kaohsiung local government, although there have been no cases of actual transactions being made. In 2007, the announced land value adjustments placed the value of the land on Taiping Island at
NT$ The New Taiwan dollar (code: TWD; symbol: NT$, also abbreviated as NT) is the official currency of Taiwan. The New Taiwan dollar has been the currency of Taiwan since 1949, when it replaced the Old Taiwan dollar, at a rate of 40,000 old dollars ...
400 per square metre. Prior to 2012, the island's coast guard defense forces held recoil-less guns and mortars. These were planned to be replaced by eight sets of auto-cannons and a number of mortars by the end of August 2012.


Facilities

Taiping Island has four existing wells. The proportion of fresh water in them is 99.1, 75.8, 97.5, and 96.8 percent, respectively, averaging 92.3 percent. About 65 metric tons of water can be pumped from these wells daily to provide drinking water and meet cooking and everyday needs. Apart from well water, there are water-retaining facilities mainly used for farming. Since December 2014, the island has been powered by a 40 kWp
photovoltaic power station A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building- ...
with a 612 kW storage facility that will generate an estimated 50MWh per year. The project was divided into two phases: the first phase was completed in December 2011; and the second in December 2014. The entire solar power system will generate an estimated 189,492 kWh per year, saving an estimated 49,000 litres of diesel fuel per year. It was funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The
Taiping Island Airport Taiping Island Airport () is an airport on Taiping Island, Cijin District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It is located in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. The island (named Itu Aba before 1946See Taiping Island for more information.) belongs to the ...
features an airstrip which caters for C-130 transport planes of the ROC Air Force, with one sortie arriving every two months. No re-fueling facilities are available. Depending on sources, the runway is either 1150 or 1200 metres (approx. 1300 yards) long, 30 metres (100') wide, and has a large hard-standing area capable of accommodating two C-130 aircraft. The island also has a helicopter platform. Additional facilities located on the island include a shelter for fishermen, a
hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...
(including a civilian doctor), satellite telecommunications facilities, radar surveillance equipment, and other communications equipment. Five public telephones are connected via satellite. The island also has Internet connectivity. Mobile phone reception is available for individuals with international roaming; a signal from
China Mobile China Mobile is the trade name of both China Mobile Limited () and its ultimate controlling shareholder, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd. (, formerly known as China Mobile Communications Corporation, "CMCC"), a Chinese state-ownedSt ...
can be accessed from a GSM base station located on Nanxun Reef. In 2013, Taiwan's
Chunghwa Telecom Chunghwa Telecom Company, Ltd. () (, ) is the largest integrated telecom service provider in Taiwan, and the incumbent local exchange carrier of PSTN, Mobile, and broadband services in the country. History Chunghwa Telecom was founded as ...
established a satellite-based cellular base station on the island to provide the coast guard with communication services. The ROC maintains a large meteorological station on Taiping island. The station collects weather information using surface instruments, launching weather balloons daily. The ROC
Central Weather Bureau The Central Weather Bureau (CWB; ) is the government meteorological research and forecasting institution of the Republic of China (Taiwan). In addition to meteorology, the Central Weather Bureau also makes astronomical observations, reports on se ...
has an employee presence on the island. Guanyin Temple, built in 1959, and nearby tombstones dating back to the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
(which lasted until 1911) can show traces of Chinese activity on the island.


Coast guard

Three
Coast Guard Administration The Coast Guard Administration of the Ocean Affairs Council (CGA; ), also known as the Taiwan Coast Guard or R.O.C. Coast Guard, is charged with maintaining law and order, protecting the resources of the territorial waters of the Republic of Chin ...
boats of the Type M8 speedboat, designated ''Nanhai 4'', ''Nanhai 5'', and ''Nanhai 6'' (, "Nanhai" literally translates to "South Sea" or "
South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...
"), respectively, are prepared to patrol the island but are not considered sufficient to adequately monitor the island's surroundings. Bridge piers were constructed in 1992 but some had been damaged. In December 2006, rebuilding began on a damaged L-shaped pier, the Southern Star Ferry Pier (), in order to improve the transportation and supply of materials for the Coast Guard. Currently, a military supply ship services the island during a single voyage in April and November each year, anchoring for one day to deliver personnel and military supplies. Additionally, a civil merchantman arrives with general goods every 20 days, anchoring for 1 to 2 days at a time. This ship may be used as a transport for the stationed coast guard personnel.


Tourist attractions

A temple on the island exists as a common visiting place. The southeast side of the island contains old Japanese constructions. The "Taiping Cultural Park" () is located near the pier. There is also a pillar erected on the island that declares Taiping Island as a territory of the Republic of China.


Sister cities

The following are
sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...
with Taiping Island: *
Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...
,
Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...


See also

*
Pratas Island Pratas Island,, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also known as the Tungsha Islands or the Dongsha Islands (), is a coral island situated in the northern part of the South China Sea administered as part of Cijin District, Kao ...
(Tungsha, Dongsha) *
List of islands of Taiwan The islands comprising the Taiwan Area under the jurisdiction of the Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC) are classified into various island groups. The Geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, is the largest island and the main c ...
*
List of maritime features in the Spratly Islands This page features a series of lists of maritime features in the Spratly Islands. Features by area Of the hundreds of maritime features in the Spratly Islands, relatively few have land permanently above sea-level that is larger than protruding ...
*
South China Sea Islands The South China Sea Islands consist of over 250 islands, atolls, cays, shoals, reefs and seamounts in the South China Sea. The islands are mostly low and small, and have few inhabitants. The islands and surrounding seas are subject to overla ...
*
Taiping Island Airport Taiping Island Airport () is an airport on Taiping Island, Cijin District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It is located in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. The island (named Itu Aba before 1946See Taiping Island for more information.) belongs to the ...
*
Zhongzhou Reef Zhongzhou Reef also known as Ban Than Reef and Centre Cay ( Mandarin ; vi, Bãi Bàn Than) is a small coral reef on the north edge of the Tizard Bank in the Spratly Islands, South China Sea under administration by the Republic of China (Taiwan) . ...
*
List of Taiwanese superlatives This is a list of Taiwanese superlatives. Geography Ecology Demography Structures References {{Asia in topic, Extreme points of, collapsed=yes Taiwanese Superlatives Comparison is a feature in the morphology or synt ...


Notes


References


External links


Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative Island Tracker

The International Portal of Taiping Island
(Taiping Island – The Beautiful and Sustainable Island)
Satellite image of Taiping Island by Google Maps


* *

– (Perhaps) Contain
an undoctored 2008 satellite photo of the island
showing the runway and (one) adjacent "standing area". {{Spratly Islands topics Islands of the Spratly Islands Islands of Taiwan Landforms of Kaohsiung Islands of the South China Sea Disputed islands Territorial disputes of China Territorial disputes of the Republic of China Territorial disputes of the Philippines Territorial disputes of Vietnam Tizard Bank