Full coverage: The South China Sea Issue

The tribunal of the South China Sea arbitration classified Taiping Island as a rock, which does not have its own economic zone.

But a historical document in the collection of the French National Library tells a different story. The Indo-China Economic Report written by French explorers, includes a map of Taiping Island showing what it was like 80 years ago.

The map shows that French colonists had established an infrastructure on the island and cultivated plants there. The French colonists called it an island which could support a society.