Woody Island

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Proper noun

Woody Island

1. An island of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea administered under Sansha, Hainan, China (claimed by Taiwan (ROC) and Vietnam).
   • 1977, Selig S. Harrison, “Danger Zones in the South China Sea”, in China, Oil and Asia: Conflict Ahead?‎^[1], New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 192:

     According to Japanese sources, Peking has maintained some sort of naval bases on Woody (Yung-hsing) Island and Lincoln (Tung) Island in the eastern Paracels since at least 1958. Several patrol vessels and supply ships were sighted there in mid-1971, along with shore-based radar installations; and the flotilla that clashed with the Vietnamese in 1974 numbered seven ships, including Komar-class gunboats equipped with Styx missiles.

   • 2012 April 10, “China stakes claim to islands with "Princess Coconut" voyage”, in Reuters‎^[2], archived from the original on March 18, 2024, Business:

     Initial plans call for ships to visit Woody Island, called Yongxing Island by China, though tourists would not be allowed to leave their boat.

   • 2014 May 20, Gabriel Domínguez, “Beijing 'prepared to defend rights' in South China Sea”, in Deutsche Welle‎^[3], archived from the original on October 25, 2019, Asia‎^[4]:

     Recently, Professor Sam Bateman, a Senior Fellow in the Maritime Security Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, presented another line of argument. He pointed out that China's oil rig is 120 miles from Vietnam's coast, and 80 miles from China's Woody (Yongxing) Island which is unquestionably subject to the island regime under the current UNCLOS provisions, and consequently entitled to its own EEZ and continental shelf.

   • 2018 July 2, “Recent developments surrounding the South China Sea”, in AP News‎^[5], archived from the original on March 21, 2024‎^[6]:

     China has reportedly deployed anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles, along with electronic jammers and other equipment, on islands it built on disputed reefs in the Spratly Islands, some of which have runways.
     It also landed a bomber aircraft on Woody Island in the Paracels group, sparking alarm among rival claimants and the United States. Washington has no territorial claims in the region but has declared that freedom of navigation and overflight in the waters is in U.S. national interest.

   • 2020 May 24, Steven Lee Myers, “Why China’s Move to Rein in Hong Kong is Just the Start”, in The New York Times‎^[7], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on May 24, 2020, Asia Pacific‎^[8]:

     In April, it created two new administrative districts to govern the islands it controls in the Paracel and Spratly chains. China’s Navy also said that it had succeeded it growing cabbage and other vegetables in the sand of Woody Island, helping to feed the growing number of troops stationed there.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Woody Island.

Synonyms

• (from Mandarin Chinese) Yongxing, Yunghsing
• (from Vietnamese) Phu Lam

Translations

Translations

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 武德島／武德岛; 永興島／永兴岛 (Yǒngxīngdǎo)

Further reading

• Leon E. Seltzer, editor (1952), “Woody Island”, in The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World‎^[9], Morningside Heights, NY: Columbia University Press, →OCLC, page 2105, column 1: “Chinese Yunghing or Yung-hsing”
• Saul B. Cohen, editor (1998), “Woody Island”, in The Columbia Gazetteer of the World‎^[10], volume 3, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 3489, column 3: “Chin. Yongxing”
• Woody Island at Google Ngram Viewer