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List of islands of Taiwan

Overview of Taiwanese islands From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

List of islands of Taiwan
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This article is about the islands under the jurisdiction of the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan. For the islands controlled by the People's Republic of China, see List of islands of China.

The islands comprising the Taiwan Area under the jurisdiction of the Republic of China (ROC) are classified into various island groups. The island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, is the largest island and the main component of the ROC-controlled territories. Islands that are claimed by the ROC but not administered, including those administered by the People's Republic of China (PRC), and those disputed with other countries such as the Tiaoyutai Islands (Senkaku Islands) and most of the South China Sea Islands, are excluded from this list.

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Map of Taiwan

At the adoption of Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China in the 1990s, these islands collectively form the "Free area of the Republic of China" or known alternatively as "Taiwan Area", which legally defines the territorial extent under the actual control of the ROC government.

Some Taiwanese islands have various translations in English due to different systems of romanization in Chinese language in use, or derivation of differing linguistic origins from Mandarin, Hokkien, indigenous languages or other foreign languages. Some islands also have different names derived from particular historical periods which remain in use to this day.[1]

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Archipelagos of Taiwan

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There are in total of 168 islands which can be classified into the following geographical units:

More information Name, Chinese ...
There are four contemporary geopolitical definitions of the extent of "Taiwan":
  1. The state, a.k.a. the "Republic of China" (ROC), including all 168 islands administered by the ROC;
  2. The traditional Taiwan region (本島地區), excluding Kinmen, Matsu, and Wuqiu, which are traditionally parts of Fujian Province, and also excluding the ROC-controlled South China Sea Islands;
  3. The traditional region without Penghu, which is sometimes regarded as a separate region;
  4. The main island of Taiwan alone, excluding all of the nearby small islands.

Note: The Senkaku Islands, which are controlled by Japan, are disputed by the PRC (People's Republic of China) and the ROC as being a part of Taiwan (known as "Tiaoyutai" in Taiwanese Mandarin). Japan administers the Senkaku Islands as a part of the Ryukyu Islands.

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List of major islands by area

List of Taiwanese islands with over 5 km2 of area.[2]

More information Order, Name ...
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List of islands by geographical unit

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Taiwan proper

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Location map of outlying islands governed by Taiwan
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Penghu Islands

Penghu/Pescadores

Kinmen/Quemoy

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Kinmen County

[6][7][8][9][10]

Matsu Islands

[28][29][30]

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Lienchiang County (Matsu Islands)

Wuqiu/Ockseu

[34]

  • Wuqiu (Ockseu, Wuchiu, Wuciou; 烏坵)
    • Daqiu (Tachiu, Taciou; 大坵)
    • Xiaoqiu (Hsiaochiu; 小坵)

South China Sea Islands

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Map of various countries occupying the Spratly Islands
  • South China Sea Islands (南海諸島) (Administration under Cijin District, Kaohsiung Municipality; only the following islands listed below are controlled by the ROC)
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Disputed islands

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The highly controversial sovereignty disputes over both the Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands and the South China Sea Islands (which are disputed and controlled by several countries) are complex with the disputed status of both Taiwan (the territories outlined in the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco) and the Republic of China (ROC) which controls Taiwan. As the ROC and the People's Republic of China (PRC) still compete their de jure claim as the sole legitimate government of the entire China, they effectively lay claim to the same extent of islands, including the South China Sea Islands and the Senkaku Islands, among others.[35] This makes these disputes multi-layered and therefore virtually impossible to solve by following the guidelines of international law.

The ROC maintains its historical claims to all of the South China Sea Islands.[36][37] They are also claimed by five other claimants, namely the PRC, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei. The islands within the Pratas and Spratly Islands which remain under the control of the ROC are assigned to Cijin District, Kaohsiung City, thus technically defining these islands to be part of the "Taiwan Area". The United Nations considers the South China Sea to be "international waters" and does not acknowledge any of the South China Sea Islands as "true islands". The acknowledgement of these islands as "true islands" is crucial because the definition of "islands" would justify the creation of an exclusive economic zone around them, which can be used to cut off international shipping lanes and to acquire natural resources such as oil which lie beneath the ocean.

Meanwhile, the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands[38] are claimed by the ROC as "Tiaoyutai Islands" within Toucheng Township, Yilan County[39] and are considered to be part of geographic and provincial Taiwan by the ROC. The Senkaku Islands lie about 186 kilometres from the northeast of Taiwan Island, and situated roughly 330 kilometres from the east of mainland China. They form the westernmost extremity of the "Ryukyu Islands", which Japan administers as Okinawa Prefecture. The PRC also claims the Senkaku Islands as "Diaoyu Islands" as part of its claimed "Taiwan Province".

The PRC claims the islands of Taiwan and Penghu as part of its 23rd Taiwan Province, together with the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands (claimed as "Tiaoyutai Islands"), which are also claimed by the ROC as part of its own Taiwan Province. The PRC claims Kinmen as a county of the prefecture-level city Quanzhou, in Fujian Province. Matsu is claimed as part of Lianjiang County, part of Fuzhou, in Fujian Province. The Wuqiu islands are claimed as part of Xiuyu District, a district of the prefecture-level city Putian, in Fujian Province. Pratas Island is claimed as part of Chengqu in Shanwei (Swabue) Guangdong Province. The Nansha Islands controlled by the ROC, i.e. Taiping Island and Zhongzhou Reef, are claimed as part of Sansha, in Hainan Province. The PRC thus claims the ROC-controlled islands as part of its own Taiwan Province (Taiwan and Penghu), Fujian Province (Kinmen, Matsu, and Wuqiu), Guangdong Province (Dongsha) and Hainan Province (Nansha).

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References

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