1. Overview of Chinese islands
2. Strategic importance of islands
3. Management status of Chinese islands
4. Strengthen island management and develop island economy

1. Overview of Chinese islands
Island definition: the island refers to a naturally formed area of land surrounded by sea water and above water at high tide, including uninhabited islands, uninhabited islands
（1）Island number
The investigation data in early 1990’ demonstrate that there are around 7394 islands above 500m2. Among them, 433 are inhabited island, whereas 6961 are uninhabited. The total coast line of those islands reaches 121710 Km (excluding Hainan Island, Taiwan, Hongkong, Macau and their affiliated islands). There are two island provinces (Taiwan and Hainan), two island special districts (HongKong and Macau), one city in the state plan (Xiamen), one island regional city (Zhoushan), 14 island county and 191 island towns.
（2）Island distribution
Chinese islands are distributed across Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea. East China Sea harbors around 4615 islands, accounting for 66.3% of total islands in China. South China Sea ranks second, with 1641 islands and accounting for 23.6%. There are only 433 islands in Yellow Sea, accounting for 6.2%. Bohai sea possesses the least number of islands, accounting for 4.2%.
(3) Island classification
China has a number of islands with wide distribution and rich category, including all types of classification of the world's islands. Islands were classified according to the island's geographic conditions, natural environment and natural resource conditions, and its formation, material composition, offshore distance, location and uninhabited and so on. The following focuses on four kinds of classification:
 Islands could be divided into Continental Island, ocean islands and alluvial islands based on the causes.
① Continental island: The mainland's land extends to the sea bottom and the exposed surface forms islands. It was originally a part of mainland and separated due to crustal subsidence or sea-level rise, therefore, its geological structure, lithology and topography, etc. is basically similar to the neighboring mainland. Continental island accounts for about 93% of the total island.
② Ocean Island: Sea Island is also known as Ocean Island, which is formed by submarine volcanic eruption, or accumulation of coral reefs, therefore, it can also be further divided into volcanic islands and coral islands.
Volcano Island is formed by a submarine volcanic eruption. There is a few volcanic island in China, accounting for about 0.1% of the total number of islands, mostly located in the southeast coast and Taiwan Province of China waters, such as the Diaoyu islands, southern anchor island in Fujian, which consists of 1.4 million hexahedral, charcoal-like basalt columnar body. 
Coral Island is formed by the remains of reef-building coral calcium. Below it there is often a submarine volcanic basement rocks. China's coral island accounts for more than 1.6% of the total. They are distributed mainly in Xisha Islands, Zhongsha Islands, Dongsha Islands, Nansha Islands and the Penghu Islands, and also in Guangdong, Hainan and Taiwan provinces. 
③ Alluvial Island: Alluvial island is also known as "stacking island." It is formed by the runoff of sediment piled up year after year. China’s alluvial island accounts for about 6% of the total island. Chongming Island is a typical alluvial island located in the Yangtze River estuary used to be a shallow sea, formed by accumulating sediment, which still continue to expanding northward. (Chongming Island Map)
 Islands can be divided into archipelago, chain islands and a single island by the island shape and composition.
① archipelago refers to some islands close to each other and distributed in groups. There are ten archipelago in China, including Changshan Islands in Liaoning; temple islands in Shandong; Zhoushan Islands in Zhejiang; southern sun Islands in Fujian; Wanshan Islands, Chuanshan Islands and East Sand Islands in Guangdong; Xisha Islands, Zhongsha islands and Nansha islands in Hainan. Archipelago is not only the core of islands, but also the highest level of islands, often composed of a number of islands.
② Chain island refers to the island group in line or arc-shaped arrangement. There are a total of 45 chain islands in China, three in Liaoning Province, 14 in Zhejiang Province, 8 in Fujian Province, 1 in Taiwan, 18 in Guangdong Province, and 1 in Hainan.
 According to the composition
Island can be divided into bedrock Island, sand islands and coral islands according to the material composition.
① bedrock Island: rock island is composed of consolidation of the sedimentary, metamorphic and volcanic rocks. Rock island accounts for about 93% of islands in China.
② Mud Island: Mud Island is composed of sand, silt, clay and other debris accumulated over a long period. Mud Island accounts for about 6% of the total island in China. These islands are generally small and distributed in the estuary area, but some of them are quite large.
③ Coral Island: Coral Island is the accumulation of coral remains above the sea level. These islands are mainly distributed in Guangdong, Hainan and Taiwan provinces.
 according to inhabited or not
① inhabited islands: It is defined as islands with permanent residence. Inhabited islands account for about 6.2% of the total island in China.
② uninhabited islands: it refers to islands without permanent residence. Uninhabited islands account for about 93.8% of the total island in China.
2. Strategic importance of islands
 (1) National sovereignty and maritime rights
Ownership of the island is a symbol of national sovereignty. According to "United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea," the provisions of the islands are an important basis for delimitation of the territorial sea base, which has a direct impact on the national internal waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of the scope and area. The existence of an island determines 1550 Km2 of territorial waters, as well as 430000 Km2 exclusive economic zones.
With the evolution of international legal status of the island, island plays a strategic role in national development strategy of sea power which other strategic resources could not replace. Thus, there is a lot of island dispute during maritime delimitation between countries, such as Japan and South Korea's Dokdo (Takeshima) dispute. "Dokdo" (Japan called "bamboo island") is an island 0.23 Km2 which South Korea and Japan both claim sovereignty. At present, South Korea actually controls this island. Some Koreans are living on the island, and they have built a lighthouse o and simple dock. Dokdo dispute about the ownership concerns both South Korea and Japan's economic interests.

 (2) Economic value
With the increasing tension of space resources in coastal areas, development, construction of islands, It is essential to develop the second marine economy band of China dependent on islands, to promote regional economic and social development of China's island, vigorously develop the island economy with local characteristics, speed up the development of social undertakings islands, improve people's livelihood and promote the islands internal opening, and strengthen regional economic and social development in the island policy support, strengthen organization and leadership to implement security measures to promote the island region's economic and social development. Only through these steps, is it possible to maintain sound and rapid development of China's national economy an important guarantee, and to improve and protect the livelihood.
In recent years, the pace of development of China's island is accelerating, and there are some scale and technological advantages in island port, tourism, energy and other aspects of the development.
Yangshan deep-water port in Yangshan at the mouth of Hangzhou Bay consists of dozens of large and small islands, is the first island port in China. By 2020, Yangshan deep-water container berths plans to arrange over 50 Deep-water container berths, with annual handling capacity of above 15 million standard containers (TEU); 
Zhoushan reserve depot in Daishan Island is one of four national oil reserve bases in China with a total project size of 5.2 million cubic meters of crude oil reserves. The first period project has completed a total of 120 million cubic meters crude oil storage tank facilities. This is the second national oil reserve base in use following national oil reserve base in Ningbo last year. The opening of Daishan National Petroleum Reserve strengthens the country's strategic oil reserve capacity.
Tourism is a cultural phenomenon and a comprehensive reflection of economic, social and cultural phenomena. It is a higher level of human life, with both material and spiritual unity. In recent years, the great development of islands and marine tourism has provided the tourism industry an opportunity and broad prospects. The advantages of islands and ocean tourism are prominent. Zhoushan Islands received 15.1648 million passengers in 2008, 16.2% much more than the previous year, with tourism income of 10.196 billion yuan, increasing 19.5% than 2007.
Hainan Island developed from a border into a " Chinese Garden with four season ". And Hainan tourism is originally "trivial" then become a "decisive" pillar industry. Hainan received 20.6 million tourists with tourism revenue of 18.5 billion. The province's total tourism income is equivalent to 13% of the province's GDP in 2008.
The nuclear power plant in Ningde, Fujian is located on the island chain composed of the transit Island, two island-hopping and jumping tail island nearby Beiwan Hill. four million-kilowatt generating units of the first phase was built in the transit Island, other two million kilowatt units were planed in jumping tail island.
The first wind power projects-- Hengqin Island wind farm in Pearl River Delta region installed 21 units with a single capacity of 750 kW, 50 m wind turbine, a total installed capacity of 15.75 thousand kilowatts. The total investment is 128 million yuan with an annual generation capacity of up to 3000 million kilowatt hours, which could meet electricity requirement of 20000 families. Thus electricity and energy problem of the remote areas has been solved.
In conclusion, islands play a special status and irreplaceable role in the national economy and coastal construction. Through detailed investigation we should find out our island resource type, distribution, concentration and development value and so on, weigh the various resources status, prioritize the development of island resources with high economic value. Based on scientific planning, construction of island-based capacity-building, development of island economy and industrial structure optimization, rational development of the island port resources, tourism resources, ocean energy, and renewable energy sources should be carried out. In the meantime, it is important to plant trees, create shelterbelts to improve the capacity of wind resistance against typhoon, and to improve production and living conditions of residents on the island.

 (3) Military status
The islands scattered among the vast sea is of great significance in the military strategy. From the perspective of military use, an island can act as a special battlefield space and provide an important guarantee for the command of the sea. For example: islands can be built as a vital area, and become a strategic channel controlling the sea, or as a defense outpost against nearby mainland countries. Some mid-ocean islands could serve as a base for nuclear weapons tests. For example, Bikini Atoll of the Marshall Islands was the nuclear weapons test site of United States from 1946 to 1958; Eniwetok has been the U.S. hydrogen bomb test site since 1947; France built nuclear weapons test station in the Tuamotu Islands and the Society Islands of Tahiti.

3. Management status of China islands

 (1) Situation confronted
International situation: Since the "United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea," came into force, the conscious of sea right of coastal States has been aroused and islands have become the focus of attention of countries worldwide. Islands as a national marine rights and interests as well as national security have become prominent.
Domestic situation: with the rise of China's scientific and technological level and overall national strength, the ability to develop marine resources has improved and the role of island's as the base for ocean development becomes increasingly obvious. Island has become a special area of China's economic and social development, with high ecology, resource, economy and equity value. The central government has paid great attention to the island's development, construction, protection and management work, and made a series of decisions and plans; local governments have also done a lot of work, which laid a good foundation for island development.
However, there are still some obvious contradictions between island conservation and development, which need to be addressed seriously and resolved. Island region's rapid economic and social development require increasing demand for resources, therefore, the pressure upon the ecological environment of the island become increasingly prominent. Large scale development and utilization of islands and increasingly irrational development and utilization of the island have led to a series of ecological and environmental problems, posing a serious threat to the island regional economic and social sustainable development. China's neighboring countries have occupied some coral islands illegally, violating China's marine rights and interests. Therefore, it is essential to strengthen the protection and use of the island to guide and management of the increasingly urgent.

(2) Existing Problems
First, the ecology of islands has been damaged seriously. Those developed and utilized uninhabited islands generally lack of planning and development is arbitrary. For example, large quarry on the island at random, indiscriminate fishing animal and plant resources, dumping of garbage has caused massive ecological degradation and destruction of the island.
The second is the disorderly development of Uninhabited Islands. Some units and individuals regard uninhabited islands as terra nullius and feel free to occupy, use, sale and transfer, which not only caused serious ecological damage of the island, but also the loss of assets of state-owned resource.
Third, special-purpose island needs to be protected urgently. Some special-purpose island bears on national interests and social interests, but generally lack of effective protection and management with security implications.
Fourth, the socio-economic development is uneven. Affected by historical factors and the understanding of policy implications, the island economy is relatively backward regions as a whole. Some islands are far away from the mainland, resulting in inconvenience of transport, fresh water shortage of resources etc, therefore, living conditions in these islands lag far behind coastal areas. The basic production and living costs are much higher. Local governments of some islands are weak to protect public services, and against natural disasters. Many islands’ regional infrastructure and economic development lagged far behind the neighboring mainland, and the gap between adjacent islands is also great, which not only constrains the island's economic development, but even affect development and utilization of the surrounding marine resources.
These problems prohibit development and protection of Chinese islands. We need to strengthen the island infrastructure, effectively improve production and living conditions of residents of the island, and effectively curb the trend of island eco-environmental damage, thoroughly improve the situation of disorder, excessive, free development of uninhabited islands. We need unified planning, rational development and protect sustainable development of the island's social economy. 

4. Strengthen the island management and develop island economy

 (1) Effectively strengthen the management ability of island
In order to truly protect, develop and manage our islands, to safeguard national maritime rights and to better promote the building of a harmonious society in China, we need strengthen the island's overall planning, protection, development and construction from a perspective of national strategy, and  speed up the island management and legal system. It is essential to establish a unified coordination and management mechanisms. Uninhabited islands should be managed by a single department.
In order to guide and standardize the management of the national island, we should publicize and implement a nationwide Island Protection Act, and actively carry out island legal public work promotion, establish and improve the supporting system, and raise public legal awareness of conservation and use of islands.
To Strengthen special-purpose island management, we should propose practical management measures. We should strengthen planning guidance, absorb the advanced experience of developed islands, adopt comprehensive measures to gradually improve the various types of infrastructure, improve production and living conditions of residents on the island, focusing on island transportation infrastructure, water resources, protection of the island facilities, the island electricity Communications infrastructure, and disaster prevention and mitigation island infrastructure.
It is essential to strengthen the island protection, development, construction and management of the supervision and inspect illegal acts in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.
 (2) To guarantee sustainable economic development of islands
The first is to develop the island conservation planning and programs. Considering the actual needs of the island management, we should make full use of the island survey data, edit the national island protection planning, and guide activity of ecological protection in inhabited islands and activities of protection and utilization in uninhabited islands. We should improve the utilization efficiency and island management level as well as national macro-control, the ability to manage the island, standardize and guide the island-building work.
Second is to strengthen the islands infrastructure such as island transportation, communication facilities, electricity, water, energy supply, disaster prevention and mitigation of infrastructure construction.
The opening of the railway between Guangdong and Hainan Island makes access to the rapid increase in transport capacity, tariff reduction and product cost reduction. It will have a direct impact on competitive industries development and economic growth in Hainan.
Pingtan County in Fujian Province relies on ferries before the construction of Pingtan Bridge. The traffic conditions have severely constrained backward Pingtan County's economic development. Fuzhou--Pingtan bridge construction has improved traffic conditions in Pingtan Island, promoted regional economic and social development, and improved the protection of national defense transportation capability.
Third, strengthen the island resource development and ecosystem conservation, to develop island economy with local characteristics and to actively support the island-tech industry development;
Fouth is to promote domestic and opening up the island to promote the establishment of the island open to experimental areas, to carry out economic cooperation with neighboring regions;
Fifth is to strengthen the management and supporting technical system of island protection, establish and improve the basic system of the island protection and development, carry out a national island data management system and application system construction work, establish monitoring system of island development and utilization.
Sixth is to strengthen public propaganda and education. We should publicize the importance of island in protecting national sovereignty, maintaining island ecosystems and natural resources areas, raise the public awareness of island value to enhance the public's understanding of the island and island culture, promote the island’ economic and social development.