Pratas Islands

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The Dongsha Islands (东 沙 群岛chinese /东 沙 群岛, Pinyin Dongsha Qúndǎo ), also Pratas Islands (or Pratas Reef ), are a composed of an atoll island group in the South China Sea.

Geography

The islands are located some 400 km southwest of Taiwan and 320 kilometers southeast of Hong Kong. The atoll measures approximately 23 km in diameter and covers an area of ​​approximately 100 km ². It is largely lost, only in the south and east of the fringing reef breaks through the water surface and forms with Pratas Iceland ( 2.8 km × 0.9 km, 1.74 km ²), the only significant land mass.

History

From 1907 to 1909 and from 1939 to 1945, the islands of Japan were occupied. Today they are under the control of the Republic of China on Taiwan and are inhabited by about 200 stationed Marines. Administratively, they are part of the district Qijin of about 445 km from the port city of Kaohsiung. The People's Republic of China claimed the islands as the village of the greater community Jieshi (碣石 镇) of the city of Lufeng their Guangdong Province.

In 2007, the Dongsha Atoll and surrounding sea areas of the Government of the Republic of China were asked as a national park Dongsha under special protection. The park has a total area of ​​3537 km ².