Representatives from a number of major global media outlets spent several hours touring Taiping Island Wednesday. Reporters from organizations including CNN, Al Jazeera, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg responded to an earlier invitation from the foreign ministry.
Taiping Island is the largest of the Spratly Islands, a disputed island chain in the South China Sea. It is under Taiwanese administration but is also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, and China. Wednesday’s tour marked the first time the island has been opened to foreign media.
The move is designed to back Taiwan’s assertion that the island is capable of supporting human life and economic activity. This is expected to counter the Philippines’ argument that the island is a rock. At stake are the entitlements to territorial sea, contiguous and Exclusive Economic Zones, and the continental shelf rights that come with an island but not with a rock.
There is a variety of plant and animal life on the island. This includes 106 types of plants such as papaya, coconuts, and bananas. There are also a number of chickens, sheep, and guard dogs resident on the island. Coast guard official Wang Mao-lin shared on Wednesday about the first lambs born on the island.
“These two little lambs are the first lambs to be born on Taiping Island. One is male and the other is female and they can eat a little grass, but their main food is still their mother’s milk. They were born on March 5. They are very healthy and started eating grass at two weeks old,” he said.
Wang told the reporters that the island is also suitable for human habitation.