Sansha

Sansha City (Chinese: 三沙市; pinyin: Sānshā Shì) is a prefecture-level city under the Hainan province of China. It is the southernmost and least populated prefecture in China by far, with the smallest land area but the largest maritime territory. The city's seat is located on Yongxing Island in the South China Sea, and administers (actually or nominally) several island groups, atolls, seamounts and a number of other ungrouped maritime features within the nine-dash line, although the PRC's de facto control over the area varies. The name "Sansha", literally meaning "three sands", refers to the three archipelago districts of Xisha (Chinese: 西沙; lit. 'west sand'), Zhongsha (Chinese: 中沙; lit. 'central sand') and Nansha (Chinese: 南沙; lit. 'south sand'). Sansha was created on 24 July 2012, and administers a group of 260 islands, reefs and beaches located in the Spratly Islands (Nansha), Paracel Islands (Xisha), and Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha Islands). Reports in the China Daily stated that the establishment of Sansha was simply an upgrade of its administrative status from the previous county-level administration to prefecture-level. Subsequent developments have turned Sansha City (located on Xisha District's Yongxing Island) into a small town with over 1,400 residents, with a dual-use airport that has a 2,700 metres (3,000 yd) runway and two artificial harbors capable of docking sea vessels up to 5,000 tonnes. Due to territorial disputes in the South China Sea, foreign reaction to the city's establishment was not positive. The United States Department of State called the change in the administrative status "unilateral", and the move has received criticism from nations engaged in the South China Sea dispute, particularly the Philippines as well as Vietnam and the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan), with the latter two claiming the island.