Original: Shenzhen ningnanshan source: ningnanshan
At ordinary times, I like to read all kinds of materials. Because the different fields of population, geography, economy, politics and military are highly related, I can get a lot of interesting information by looking at the map carefully.
If we look at Taiwan from the map, we will find that after Taiwan’s reunification, China will recover not only Taiwan, but also a series of islands and sea areas.
At present, we all know that Taiwan actually controls Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, that is, the main island of Taiwan, the Penghu Islands, the Kinmen islands and the Matsu islands. However, in addition to these four islands, the the Dongsha Islands and the Taiping island in Nansha are all in Taiwan’s hands. After reunification, these two islands will also be managed.
The the Dongsha Islands are a group of islands with the northernmost position, the closest to the mainland and the least islands and reefs among the South China Sea Islands. They are also the earliest developed islands among the South China Sea Islands in China. At present, it belongs to the urban area of Shanwei City, Guangdong Province in terms of administrative division, and is now under the actual jurisdiction of Qijin District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan Province.
The the Dongsha Islands are composed of Dongsha Atoll (Dongsha Island and Dongsha reef), nanweitan Atoll (reef) and beiweitan Atoll (reef). Among them, the reef of Dongsha Island is crescent shaped. Chaoshan fishermen are also called Yueya island. It covers an area of 1.8 square kilometers and is only 6 meters above sea level. It is formed by the accumulation of coral based biological debris.
The Taiwanese side has set up a national park Dongsha Atoll National Park in the the Dongsha Islands. The diameter of Dongsha Atoll is 25 kilometers. It is a circular atoll with a length of about 46 kilometers and a width of about 2 kilometers. When the sea water falls on the reef, the surrounding atolls can surface. The figure below shows Dongsha Atoll, and the left side of the figure is Dongsha Island.
Although Dongsha Island is only 1.8 square kilometers, there is an airport. The airport built by Taiwan can take off and land C-130 military transport planes, which can transport personnel and materials between Taiwan and Dongsha Island. Of course, we can also see the military value of the the Dongsha Islands. If we think that Dongsha Island is not large enough, there is such a large Dongsha Atoll next to it.
In addition to the the Dongsha Islands, there is Taiping island in the middle of the South China Sea, with an area of 0.51 square kilometers. Although it looks small, it is the largest natural island in the the Nansha Islands and the only natural island with fresh water in the the Nansha Islands.
There is not only an airport on Taiping Island, but also a wharf built by Taiwan at the end of 2015, as shown in the following figure:
In the South China Sea arbitration case in 2016, the final arbitration award ruled that the the Nansha Islands were rocky reefs rather than islands according to the definition of the Convention. Afterwards, Taiwan’s Ma Ying Jeou authorities said that they did not recognize or accept the arbitration. It was rare for the two sides of the Strait to reach an agreement on something.
In addition, there are also some islands under Taiwan’s control, which are China’s inherent territory. I have identified the following figure, including three small islands in the north of Taiwan, Pengjia Island, vase island and cotton Island (of which Pengjia island is the largest).
In the southwest of Taiwan, there is a small Ryukyu, and in the southeast there are green island and Orchid Island. After reunification, these will all be under the unified management of the motherland.
There are three islands in the north of Taiwan, namely Pengjia Island, vase island and cotton island.
From the map, we can see the location of Pengjia Island, the largest of the three islands. We can see that the East is the Diaoyu Island of China.
The following figure shows Pengjia island. This island is very small, only 1.14 square kilometers. It takes half an hour to circle the island, but it is the largest of the three islands.
The picture below shows the scene above Pengjia island.
However, in general, the area of the three islands in the north is indeed small. Pengjia island has the largest area of 1.14 square kilometers, cotton island is only 0.13 square kilometers, and vase island is only 3.08 hectares, that is, 0.03 square kilometers.
In fact, there is a small island in the north of Taiwan, Keelung Island, with an area of 0.24 square kilometers. However, it is not far from the Bank of Keelung, and it is only 4 kilometers away from Keelung port. It can be seen from the sea. Therefore, it is generally said that there are three islands in the north.
Compared with the small islands in the north, the area of the outlying islands in the south of Taiwan is much larger.
In the southwest of Taiwan, there is little Ryukyu, with an area of 6.8 square kilometers. It is also a good place for vacation. The population of this island is even more than 10000 (12180 people, according to statistics in May 2022).
During this military exercise and training of our army, some people in Taiwan went to xiaoryukyu on vacation to watch the military exercise. I appreciate this attitude of the Taiwanese people. The process of reunification is to be peaceful and calm. We do not want the process of reunification to bring pain to the ordinary people. We hope that in the future, the Taiwanese people can also welcome the arrival of reunification with this peaceful and normal attitude and live as usual.
As shown in the figure below, xiaoryukyu can be said to have a thriving population. Although it covers an area of only about 7 square kilometers, the resident population has reached more than 10000, and it is a popular tourist destination. As can be seen from the figure below, there are many scenic spots on the island. After unification, it is also a place I would like to visit.
The picture below is downloaded from Google maps. It can be seen that the sea water is still clear.
Xiaoryukyu is the most popular outlying island tourist attraction in Taiwan. The reason is that it is not too far from the main island of Taiwan. The traffic is dense and the sailing time is short. It can be reached in more than 20 minutes. Compared with the two outlying islands of Green Island and Orchid Island, xiaoryukyu hardly has the situation of material shortage due to traffic interruption for many days. At the same time, it will not get seasick due to the wind and waves on Green Island and Orchid Island. This has increased the attraction of Ryukyu tourism.
It is worth mentioning that there is also an airport on xiaoryukyu. I checked that because the sailing time of ships to the island is short and the aviation is not competitive, the former route was abolished and only used for taking off and landing helicopters. Of course, it is also possible to restart the airport as a military airport after reunification. After all, the area is enough.
So where are green island and Orchid Island?
Green Island in the southeast of Taiwan is also a beautiful place. There is a ring road on it. The island covers an area of 15.1 square kilometers. There are hot springs on the island, and you can go snorkeling. At the same time, you can take a glass boat to see fish. The resident population of the island by December 2021 was 4124.
At that time, green island was famous as a prison. Bo Yang and Shi Mingde were all imprisoned here. Some travel notes and media reported that Annette Lu and Chen Ju had been imprisoned in green island prison. It was a misunderstanding. In fact, these two people did not serve their sentences on Green Island. It may be because their names were engraved on the human rights monument on the island.
There is also a misunderstanding about Li Ao. Baidu and Google search have a lot of information about Li Ao’s detention in green island prison. However, according to Li Ao’s memoirs, he has not actually served his sentence in green island prison:
“On November 19, 1976, I finally won and was released without guarantee. On the day I was released from prison, they handed me the release certificate of the Ministry of national defense’s Green Island sensory training prison. There was a column of” line and regret “printed routinely, and there was the word” thought has been corrected “. I neither went to Green Island nor regretted it. I was really angry and funny when I received this certificate. Later, with this certificate, I got my ID card and started my life again. I was 41 years old at that time
Li Ao’s second imprisonment was not in the green island prison. “Li Ao’s memoirs” wrote: “I should be in Taoyuan Taipei prison, but I was left in Tucheng detention center. The reason is that the Taipei prison is too crowded to live alone. However, the” superiors “thought that Li Ao would know too much if he lived with other people, and it was really appropriate to live alone. Therefore, they ostensibly gave preferential treatment and stayed in the detention center for execution.”
Green Island is also a well-known tourist attraction now. However, it takes longer to travel by boat than to xiaoryukyu, and the road will be bumpy when encountering wind and waves. However, the scenery on the island is good and it is a place worth visiting.
The picture below is green island. There are various scenic spots on it.
The following figure shows the roundabout road on Green Island.
It can be seen that green island is not a small island.
In the figure below, you can climb the pavilion on the mountain to overlook the sea. It is a good place to relax.
As an island with an area of more than ten square kilometers, green island also has a civil aviation airport. More than 2000 flights take off and land each year. From this, we can see the value of green island.
Orchid Island in the southeast of Taiwan is a large island with an area of 48.4 square kilometers, which can be said to be very large. After all, the largest Penghu island in the Penghu Archipelago is more than 60 square kilometers. There is also a small orchid Island next to Orchid Island. There is also an organic field on Orchid Island, which can be flown to the island.
In the figure below, you can see the small island beside Orchid Island — Xiaolan island.
This is a relatively primitive Pacific island in general. Although it covers an area of more than 40 square kilometers, there are only 5230 residents on the island (according to the statistics in February 2022). The population density is much smaller than that of Green Island, and even less than that of xiaoryukyu.
The highest peak of Orchid Island is Hongtou mountain, with an altitude of 552 meters, which is not very low.
Due to less industrial development on the island, the water quality of Lanyu is very clear and it is a good place for swimming.
In addition to Green Island and Orchid Island, there is also Kuishan island in Taitung, which is merged into the three islands of Taitung. Kuishan island covers an area of 2.84 square kilometers. However, this island is only a little more than 9 kilometers away from the main island of Taiwan. It is very close and can also be used for island tourism. The location is shown in the following figure:
In fact, in addition to tourism, these islands and their affiliated territorial waters and exclusive economic zones are of high military and economic value.
The simplest is that there are airports on the five outlying islands of Taiping Island, Dongsha Island, xiaoryukyu, green island and Lanyu, which will have both economic and military value.
China is a big country on land and sea. It needs both vast land and vast oceans. The reunification of Taiwan can remove the biggest obstacle in the direction of the sea.
If it is said that before Taiwan’s reunification, it was an obstacle to China’s access to the sea, then after reunification, for those countries that have an unfriendly attitude toward China, China after Taiwan’s reunification, because it has control over Taiwan’s main island and its affiliated islands, has enhanced its control over the sea and navigation channels, and Taiwan and its affiliated islands will become an obstacle to these unfriendly countries.
No wonder Japan’s Abe said that “Taiwan’s business is Japan’s business.”.
After the reunification of Taiwan, China’s warships and maritime surveillance have been closer to Diaoyu Island and Chiwei Island, which has enhanced China’s control over Diaoyu Island. This is undoubtedly very unfavorable to Japan. The red dot in the figure below is Diaoyu Island. It can be seen that China’s military forces start from Taiwan and are very close to the Okinawa Islands and other countries, such as Zhufu, Shiyuan, duoliangjian and Miyako Island.
There is also the US military base in Okinawa. Taiwan can not only become an important barrier to defend the country, but also a starting point for taking the initiative to attack and frighten the enemy.
In fact, I always think that places like Okinawa (Ryukyu) should be restored as independent countries. Originally, Ryukyu was an independent country more than 100 years ago, and it was only in 1879 that it was destroyed by Japan.
The Ryukyu people originally had only first names but no surnames. In 1430, Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty gave the Ryukyu royal family the surname Shang. Since then, the Ryukyu royal family has taken Shang as its surname, and China has long been the suzerain state.
In July 1854, the government of the Ryukyu Kingdom and general Perry of the United States signed the Treaty of opening Naha port, the Ryukyu US Treaty of repair, which was written in both Chinese and English.
After the destruction of the Ryukyu state by Japan in 1879, many Ryukyu people went into exile in China and submitted petitions to the Qing government at that time asking for justice and trying to restore the country. Unfortunately, the Qing Dynasty was weak and unable to help the Ryukyu recover.
It has been more than 100 years since Ryukyu was subjugated, and it has become Japan’s Okinawa. The Ryukyu people should have the right to pursue freedom and national self-determination.
As can be seen from the figure below, Japan is actually very far away from Taiwan. However, because Japan annexed the Ryukyu Islands (within the red circle in the figure below), Ryukyu became Okinawa, and Japan’s power extended from the four islands of Japan to the East China Sea. As a result, Japan’s expansion of its power even pushed further, and it further felt that “Taiwan’s business is Japan’s business”.
Therefore, after China’s reunification with Taiwan, it can be said that for the first time in modern times, the base of a strong Chinese military force is so close to the Ryukyu Islands.
In addition, we generally say that the first island chain locks China out of the Pacific Ocean. In fact, after China’s reunification with Taiwan, not only the first island chain is broken, but also China can form an island chain in turn. The following figure is my drawing,
The first island chain is from Fujian Taiwan to Lanyu. Of course, Lanyu used to be the Philippines. There is an airport on Lanyu, which can also deploy missiles and has the capability of military deterrence.
The second island chain is Hainan Island — the Xisha Islands — the Zhongsha Islands atoll — Huangyan Island,
Among them, the Xisha Islands already have airports in China. The Zhongsha Islands are basically hidden reefs, which are usually below the water surface. Huangyan Island in the picture belongs to the Zhongsha Islands, which is the only one exposed to the water surface in the Zhongsha Islands. At present, under the actual control of China, China has not started to fill Huangyan Island. After filling the island, an airport can also be built in the future. If we fill Huangyan Island in the future, it is expected that the United States and Japan will respond greatly, Especially in the United States, which emphasizes free navigation, of course we should take our time and do not worry.
Of course, whether it is American politicians or Japanese politicians,
The greater the reaction of those who are hostile to China to reunifying Taiwan, the greater the benefits of China’s reunification of Taiwan. After all, people will speak for their own interests.
Therefore, the reunification of Taiwan will benefit our country greatly. Not only will more land and population be included in the unified management, but also the comprehensive industrial level, economic and military capabilities will be improved. With the continuous progress of various preparations in China, the time point for reunification is actually getting closer and closer.