Taiwan Presses Forward With Secretive Construction After Downgrade of Its South China Sea Island

There are no islands in the Spratly Islands. Only rocks.  At least, that's according to an international tribunal's ruling earlier this year that said, based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, Taiwan's "Itu Aba" island is in fact, just a rock. Itu Aba, also known as Taiping Island, is the largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands, measuring about 1.4 kilometers long.  The distinction between rock and island is an...

© La Voix de l'Amérique - vendredi 30 septembre 2016