Itu Aba Island

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Itu Aba Island or Taiping Island (Traditional Chinese: 太平島), is the largest of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. It is controlled and governed by the Republic of China (Taiwan). The Spratly Island consists of seven reefs.

The islands are on the Spratly Archipelago near the Cheng Ho Reefs (Tizard Bank) in the southern end of the South China Sea.

1 History
2 Government
3 Geography
4 See also
5 References

[edit] History

The island derives its Chinese name from the battle ship "Peace (Taiping)" sent to recover the island after Japan's surrender at the end of World War II. An interesting fact about Itu Aba Island is that fishermen used to call the island "Huang-Shan Ma Zhi." The Hainan Island pronunciation for this name is "Widuabe." On other western navigation maps, the island is named "Itu Aba Island" [1].

During World War II it was invaded by Japan and converted to a submarine base. Japan renounced its control in 1946 and turned over the island to the Republic of China.

As of 2005, plans are underway by the Republic of China government to build an airstrip on the island. The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affair has sent a representative to Taipei and requested the ROC to stop the construction.

The island is disputed by six countries due to fishing rights, shipping lanes, but more importantly for the potential of petroleum underneath.

[edit] Government

Although the are no long term inhabitants on the island, Itu Aba is administered under the Central municipality of Kaohsiung City by the Republic of China.