copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-12-22): Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/10/17: CIA-RDP08001297R000300180017-4 ? THE DISPUTED ISLANDS IN SOUTH. CHINA SEA .The South China Sea is surrounded by China to the north, the Philippines to the east and Vietnam and Malaysia to the west and south. In the area there are numerous reefs, shoals and banks associated with three so-called groups of islands: Pratas, Paracels and Spratlys. The Pratas conOsts of one island located 2?N., 1179E. and 160 miles southeast of Hongkong (Figure 1). The [...] I-Chin Reefs; (2) the islands, such as Pratas and Woody, are closer to China than any other contry; (3) there are records of Chinese settlement and control of the islands. Before 1907 Chinese fishermen had established a village including temples in Pratas. During that year 100 Japanese inhabited the island. [...] During World War II Japan occupied all the islands in the South China Sea and place them under the administration of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. After the defeat of Japan, the Nationalist navy in 1946 took over the control of Pratas, Faracells and Itu-aba Island of the Spratlys group. They withdrew from Pratas and Paracels in 1948 prior to the Communist take-over of these island in 1950.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-05-11): Why a Chinese Invasion of the Pratas Islands Is a Blind Spot in the Controversy over a Taiwan Contingency [...] The Pratas Islands, located in the South China Sea, are controlled by Taiwan but have not been inhabited by civilians. The PLA has intensified activities at the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in Southeast of Taiwan beyond the median line of the Taiwan Straits, and some analysts believe that these are rehearsals for invading the islands. For this reason, Taiwan has stationed small-scale marines in the islands since the summer of 2020. If China invades the Pratas Islands, Xi can demonstrate his determination to unify Taiwan both at home and abroad without taking the risky gamble to invade Taiwan mainland. China can also gain an additional military base in the South China Sea. Above all, Beijing can test if the U.S. in willing to defend Taiwan. The focus will become whether the U.S. President can decide to intervene and whether the U.S. Congress will show support to protect a small island the U.S. people have never heard of, with no civilians.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-12-23): Pratas is a single, isolated island at 20-42N, 116-43E. A line drawn on the map from Pratas to Hong Kong to Swatow and back to Pratas forms a nearly equi- lateral triangle with sides about 170 nautical miles long. About 220 nautical miles to the northeast is the Chinese [...] Japan. The following year the Chinese raised their flag on Pratas and the island was placed under the administration of the government of Kwangtung Province. In 1926 the Chinese Navy established a weather station there which was provided with radio communications. [...] Since Pratas is over 200 miles from the nearest other Nationalist territory and only about 130 miles from the Communist- held mainland, it must be considered vulnerable to Communist attack.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-03): - Islands, reefs, banks and shoals in the South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands, Pratas Island, James Shoal and the Vereker Banks, Macclesfield Bank, Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands between the PRC, Taiwan, and Vietnam, and parts of the area also contested by Malaysia and the Philippines.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-04-13): A long-stalled runway upgrade project on Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) has finally begun, despite rising military threats from China, and should be completed early next year, a Ministry of National Defense (MND) report said yesterday. [...] The ministry’s report was released after Chinese drones were spotted near Pratas Island, while Chinese People’s Liberation Army aircraft have been flying through Taiwan’s air defense identification zone near the Pratas Island on an almost daily basis. Pratas Island lies 450km southwest of Kaohsiung, while Itu Aba Island is 1,600km southwest of Kaohsiung. The two are staffed by coast guard personnel trained by the Marine Corps, but the ministry last year said it would temporarily post marines on Pratas Island amid reports the Chinese military planned to conduct drills in the area.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2018-11-12): Last week in the Taipei Times ("Stars and Stripes over Pratas Island," Nov. 5, page 8), I mulled an historical footnote about a small US Navy force in World War II that once captured Pratas Island (東沙島, now administered by Taipei) and claimed it as "American territory." For readers unfamiliar with Taiwan’s idyllic south sea atolls, Pratas Island is a 1.6km-long jade-green isle with a working lagoon harbor set, jewel-like, into Pratas’ 24km-wide circular atoll, equidistant from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Luzon whence it commands the deep blue waters of the South China Sea’s northern approaches. A Taiwanese coast guard base on the island is quite modern and can be busy. So, although Pratas is little known, it is neither an isolated nor inconsequential territory. Indeed, China declares that Pratas is its sovereign territory, a laughable assertion of even more questionable validity than any hypothetical American claim (given the phrasing of the peace treaties that ended the Pacific War and the US’ role as both primary victorious power and the sole occupying power of defeated Japan). But set that aside. [...] Indeed, Chinese officials had made several complaints about the Langseth in the run-up to the April 1, 2009, meeting in London between the new American president Barack Obama and Chinese General Secretary Hu Jintao (胡錦濤). This clearly was a Chinese tactic to strong-arm a neophyte US president, who had no idea what "Pratas Island" was, into ordering the US government to restrict its survey activity in the Western Pacific.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-12-11): The Pratas Islands are located in the northern part of the South China Sea under the jurisdiction of the Republic of China (Taiwan), closer to China’s mainland coast than to the island of Taiwan. Historically, the Pratas Islands have attracted little attention, but as the importance of the South China Sea has increased, so too has the strategic relevance of the Pratas Islands. If China controlled the Pratas Islands, the islands could function as a gatekeeper to monitor U.S. and other countries’ ships and aircraft entering the South China Sea from the Pacific Ocean. Pratas Island (the other "islands" in the group are essentially rocks) has an airport, but no permanent inhabitants, only a number of civil officials of the Taiwanese Coast Guard and researchers. It is believed that around 500 soldiers of the ROC Marine Corps are also now stationed there. However, because the island is so small and flat, it is almost impossible to defend. [...] In capturing the Pratas Islands, China could kill several birds with one stone. For instance, success could serve to consolidate Xi’s grip on the CCP. As such, the islands are a potential flashpoint that now need to come to the attention of the U.S., Japan and other democratic countries.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-11-01): Pratas Island is 2.8 km (1.7 mi) long and 0.865 km (0.537 mi) wide; it is the only feature of the group above sea level. The island is made up of coral atolls and reef flats. Brush, vines and bushes cover some of the island - the rest is white sand. Flora and fauna on and around Pratas Island include:[citation needed] [...] The island is part of the Republic of China (Taiwan) with the postal code 817. Although there are no long-term inhabitants on the island, Pratas is administered by the Kaohsiung City Government under Cijin District (Qijin). The island has been uninhabited, yet nations (including China and Japan) have claimed them to be their overseas territory. [...] The People's Republic of China claims the Pratas Islands (东沙群岛) as part of Chengqu, Shanwei (Swabue), Guangdong Province.[9][10][11]: 10 [12][13]
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-09-08): From the Backwaters of South China Sea History: Pratas at the Dawn of the Cold War Pratas Island in the South China Sea (SCS) is strategically located near major shipping routes, but its history remains largely unexplored. Occupied by the Republic of China (ROC) since 1946, it faced potential threats from the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) simulated military drills in 2020, raising fears of a US-PRC conflict and spotlighting the island’s significance. This article delves into Pratas’ history, using new sources from the UK National Archives and CIA Archives. It highlights the island’s role from the end of WWII in Asia in 1946 to the two Taiwan Strait crises in the 1950s. The island’s geopolitical significance in the 1950s was influenced by strategic factors, keeping it relatively unnoticed until its integration into the Cold War dynamics of East Asia by 1958, a position it maintained until 2020. Pratas, China, Cold War in East Asia, Taiwan strait crises, Geopolitics
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-03-23): - Contested territories - Claimed by China, Taiwan The Pratas Islands, also known as the Dongsha Islands or Tungsha Islands, are a group of atolls, coral reefs and sea banks. There is only one part that is above sea level: Pratas island. The People’s Republic of China claim them but Taiwan controls them and has declared them part of the Dongsha Atoll National Park. On Pratas island there is a small airport, a shrine, a service station for boats and a library with over 2000 books.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-10-11): Chinese shows of strength are nothing new, but these air incursions have gone from about 300 last year to 500 in the first nine months of 2021 – primarily near the contested Pratas Island, occupied by the Taiwanese military but also claimed by China. [...] New Zealand followed the US in switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing and has since adhered to a "one China policy" that stipulates Taiwan is an inalienable part of the territory of the People’s Republic of China. [...] If there are gaps in the rules governing control of disputed islands or increased regional militarisation, New Zealand should offer to help draft and negotiate new ones. Calls for a peaceful resolution of territorial disputes in the South China Sea should be consistently applied to both China and Taiwan.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-09-08): Following a Japanese news report on May 12 that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will be conducting large-scale beach-landing exercises around Hainan Island in August, reportedly including a simulated invasion of the Taiwan-controlled Dongsha Islands (Pratas Islands, 東沙群島), Taiwan’s government deployed an undisclosed number of Taiwanese marines to the islands to strengthen their defensive capabilities. The move highlighted Taiwan’s oft-forgotten claims in the South China Sea. For Taipei, the dispute with Beijing over the Dongsha Islands is only one of several bilateral and multilateral territorial disputes with other claimants in the South China Sea. Yet, Taiwan’s claims in the South China Sea have often been overshadowed by those of China and other regional countries, and have been further weakened by Taipei’s exclusion from regional and international organizations. [...] The dispute over the Dongsha Islands is unique in the sense that it is limited to the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. No other countries have made claims to them; thus the Pratas Archipelago is often not considered part of the broader South China Sea dispute. Nonetheless, a Chinese military invasion of the Dongsha Islands may be a harbinger to a potential war in the Taiwan Strait, and Taipei may be forced to defend its outer islands.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-02-15): Illegal fishing within Taiwan-administered waters—in particular cracking down on illegal fishing activities from the People's Republic China (PRC) (as is happening in other parts of East Asia)—is an area of increasing emphasis for the CGA. These waters include Taiwan proper as well as the islands of Kinmen, Lienchiang, Penghu, and Pratas—territory claimed by the PRC but which the PRC does not actively contest. The only territory that Taiwan administers that could be considered "contested" is Taiping Island in the South China Sea, which is claimed by the PRC, the Philippines, and Vietnam. In other words, the illegal fishing that the CGA is attempting to neutralize appears to be occurring in largely uncontested maritime zones—the jurisdiction and laws over which are tacitly accepted by the PRC. [...] Finally, one mission of the CGA that has received relatively little attention is its jurisdiction over the disputed Taiping Island within the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. In January 2000, the CGA replaced the Taiwan Marine Corps station in Taiping Island (with stations on Pratas and Kinmen Islands following suit), marking an important shift in administrative control from military to civilian personnel. The CGA also oversees biannual live-fire and search and rescue drills with the Taiwan Navy off Taiping and Pratas Islands to enhance interoperability and defense capabilities between the two services. The shift in command to the CGA reflects an understanding on the part of Taiwanese leaders that the South China Sea should be demilitarized.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-02-03): As possible evidence for this interpretation, the study cites some Chinese legislation, cartography, and statements. The former includes Article 2 of the 1992 territorial sea law, which claims a 12-nm territorial sea belt around the "Dongsha [Pratas] Islands, Xisha [Paracel] Islands, Nansha (Spratly) Islands and other islands that belong to the People’s Republic of China". This article reads "The PRC’s territorial sea refers to the waters adjacent to its territorial land. The PRC’s territorial land includes the mainland and its offshore islands, Taiwan and the various affiliated islands including Diaoyu Island, Penghu Islands, Dongsha Islands, Xisha Islands, Nansha (Spratly) Islands and other islands that belong to the People’s Republic of China. The PRC’s internal waters refer to the waters along the baseline of the territorial sea facing the land". The Department of State also stresses that China’s 2011 Note Verbale states that "China’s Nansha Islands is fully entitled to Territorial Sea, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and Continental Shelf", without laying down any other maritime claim.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-09-15): China, in defiance of international law, announced on April 18 of 2020 that it would newly establish the Paracel and Spratly Islands Districts respectively, within Hainan Province’s Sansha City in an attempt to further militarize its man-made islands within the South China Sea.[7] Sansha City is charged with governing the waters and islands encircled by the ‘Nine-Dash Line’. In 1992, China enacted the ‘Law of the People's Republic of China on Territorial Seas and the Contiguous Zones’ contrary to the fact that the South China Sea is a myriad of territorial claims made by its coastal states.[8] Article 2 of the law stipulates that in addition to its continental territory, all coastal islands, Taiwan, all islands attributed to the Diaoyu Islands, the Pescadores Islands, the Pratas Islands, the Paracel Islands, the Zhongsha Islets, and the Spratly Islands are all Chinese territory. Article 8 of the law stipulates that foreign ships may exercise their right of innocent passage within 12 nautical miles of these islands, however, Article 10 requests that all foreign military vessels receive authorization prior to passage.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-01-25): China has carried out regular flights over the international waters between the southern part of Taiwan and the Taiwanese-controlled Pratas Islands in the South China Sea in recent months.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2013-01-15): A new map to be released later this month by China’s National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation increases from 29 to 130 the number of disputed areas marked as officially part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) claimed by Taiwan and Japan. Previous editions of the "Wall Map Series of National Territory," which presented China’s claimed territory in horizontal format, only included the larger contested islands in the South China Sea in a separate box at the bottom right of the map, Xinhua news agency said at the weekend. The territories included in the box were half scale and not clearly detailed. [...] In all, the map includes 130 disputed areas, including Taiwan, islets and coral reefs in the Spratlys (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), the Paracels (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), the Pratas (Dongshan Islands, 東沙群島), the Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha Islands, 中沙群島) and the Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island (黃岩島), which are the object of disputes between Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia. It also includes the Diaoyutais, in the East China Sea.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-02-09): In 1992, China enacted the "Law on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone". Article 2 of the law reads: The PRC’s territorial land includes the mainland and its offshore islands, Taiwan and the various affiliated islands, including Diaoyu Islands, Penghu (Pescadores) Islands, Dongsha (Pratas) Islands, Xisha (Paracels) Islands, Nansha (Spratly) Islands and other islands that belong to the People's Republic of China.[iii] This law is the basis on which China is asserting claims in the East China Sea and the South China Sea over the last three decades. In 2009, China passed the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Offshore Islands", which was adopted at the 12th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh National People's Congress on 26 December 2009.[iv] On 10 September 2012, the Chinese government issued a statement announcing the baselines of the territorial sea adjacent to Diaoyu and its affiliated islands of China.[v] In 2012, China published a White Paper titled "Diaoyu Dao, an Inherent Territory of China". The paper argues that the Diaoyu/ Senkaku Islands have been an inseparable part of China since the ancient times. China believes that Japan should stop all activities in the region. It further stated that (China) has the capability and confidence to defend its territory sovereignty.[vi]
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-01-20): Pratas Island is 260 kilometers (140 nautical miles) away from Shantou, in China’s Guangdong Province, 315 kilometers (170 nautical miles) southeast of Hong Kong, 740 kilometers (400 nautical miles) northwest of Manila, and 450 kilometers (240 nautical miles) away from Kaohsiung, Taiwan. While the island is of significant geostrategic importance along the major sea route connecting the Pacific and Indian oceans, it is not considered to be explicitly covered by the Taiwan Relations Act, which only mentions the islands of Taiwan and the Pescadores (Penghu Islands, 澎湖群島). Pratas Island was first placed under the administration of Kaohsiung in 1939 and is now treated as a component part of the city. [1] Due to the island’s unique position, it seems likely that US reactions to a contingency in Pratas Island would be different from a military crisis involving Taiwan or Penghu. Regarding the security situation of Pratas Island, Japanese scholars Yoshiyuki Ogasawara and Rira Momma have given stern warnings of the possibility of a Chinese military attack.
Claim: Pratas Island is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pratas Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-09-10): In passing, as far as the Pratas Islands (Dōngshā Qúndăo) were concerned, they were already recognized by Japan as islands remaining under Imperial China through the 1909 Japan- Ch‘ing Agreement for Handing Over Pratas Island (11 Oct. 1909). Accordingly, it appears that, even before the Second World War, the status or the sovereignty of the islands in the South China Sea (scs) was unsettled in law, except for the Pratas Islands. [...] In 1958 the prc made a declaration on 12-mile territorial sea, allowing for straight lines between the mainland and the coastal islands and requiring not only foreign airplanes but also foreign military vessels to procure the permission from the Chinese authorities for their passage through the territorial waters. While it was stipulated that these rules also apply in the Spratly Islands, it was unknown whether they meant to apply the straight baselines or to require foreign military vessels to seek and get passage permits from the authorities. In 1992 the prc enacted the Law on Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone, which formally introduced 12-mile territorial sea and straight baselines without any geomorphological restriction, and it clarified that China’s territory includes the Spratly Islands, the Paracel Islands and the Pratas Islands in the scs.9 In 1996 it issued a Declaration on Territorial Sea Baselines, and in the same year the prc ratified the un Convention on the Law of the Sea (unclos), and it issued a Declaration on Exclusive Economic Zone (eez) but therein did not mention any historic right yet.