随着C-130大力神运输机(C-130 Hercules)有些颠簸地降落台湾控制的太平岛，手机收到了一条越南移动网络发来的短信“欢迎来到越南”。这里地处热带，是一个不比其上1.2公里的跑道长多少的海面突出地物。

In the geographical heart of the South China Sea, the location of one of the world’s most troubling territorial disputes, nations are using what means they can to push their claims to this 0.5 sq km island, the largest natural feature in the southern Spratly chain.

在南中国海的地理中心，世界上最棘手的领土争端之一发生的地方，各国正使出浑身解数强调自己对这个面积0.5平方公里的岛屿的主权声索。它是斯普拉特利群岛（Spratly Islands，中国称南沙群岛）最大的天然地物。

Vietnam is projecting its military-owned mobile phone network, while buying submarines and fighters from Russia to transform its attack capabilities. Mighty China is investing even more on its armed forces, buying hardware and building and fortifying its own artificial islands.

越南将其军用移动电话网络投射到这里，同时从俄罗斯购买潜水艇和战斗机来提升其攻击能力。强大的中国对其武装力量的投入更大，它购买了硬件设施，修筑了人工岛并在加强人工岛上的防御工事。

The Philippines is pinning its hopes on the vagaries of international maritime law, bringing an arbitration case against Beijing.

菲律宾将希望寄托在变幻莫测的国际海洋法上，针对中国大陆提起了仲裁案。

But Taiwan, which cannot use international law because most countries do not recognise it as a sovereign state, is turning to more prosaic weapons to support its claim to Taiping and the potentially resource-rich sea around it: the availability of fresh water, free-roaming goats and bird faeces.

但台湾无法利用国际法，因为大多数国家并不承认它是一个主权国家。台湾正诉诸于更平凡的武器来支持其对太平岛及其周边或蕴藏丰富资源的海域的声索：你在岛上可以找到淡水、自由漫步的山羊和鸟粪。

“From this layer of historical guano, you can see that our soil has the potential for agriculture and that means we can support human life,” says Wang Mao-Lin, commander of the Taiwanese coast guard unit that runs Taiping, as he shows around the first group of journalists allowed on the island.

“从这层鸟粪沉积层中，你可以看到我们的土壤有开展农业的潜力，这意味着我们可以维持人类的生活，”负责太平岛的台湾海岸警卫队指挥官王茂林一边带着首批获准上岛的记者参观一边说。

That the fight over some of the world's most important waters, which contain rich fisheries, large potential oil and gas reserves and key global shipping routes, could be decided on such matters seems absurd.

围绕这一世界上最重要水域之一的争端可以由这些事情来决定，这看上去似乎有些荒谬。这块水域包含丰富的渔业资源、巨大的油气可能储量，以及关键的国际航道。

But back in Taipei, outgoing President Ma Ying-jeou explains the importance of Taiping’s soil quality, livestock and groundwater that is “close to the quality of Evian”.

但在台北，即将卸任的总统马英九(Ma Ying-jeou)解释了太平岛土质、家畜和“接近依云(Evian)水质”的地下水的重要性。

He says this is proof that Taiping can “sustain human habitation and economic life” and therefore should be considered an island under the UN convention on the law of the sea, granting it a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone that includes the rights to exploit fishing grounds and hydrocarbons.

他表示，这证明太平岛能够“维持人类居住与经济生活”，因此依据《联合国海洋法公约》(UNCLOS)，应该被视为一个岛屿，赋予其200海里的专属经济区，包括开发渔场和开采碳氢化合物的权利。

Taiwan has stepped up its efforts to show off Taiping, which lies 1,500km from Taiwan but only 500km from Vietnam and the Philippines, since the Philippines claimed last year during its arbitration case against China that it was just a “rock” that cannot support life and so should only generate 12 miles of territorial waters rather than the expansive economic zone.

去年，菲律宾在针对中国大陆的仲裁案中主张，太平岛只是“岩礁”，无法维持生存，因此只能拥有12海里领海，不能拥有广阔的专属经济区。自那以来，台湾加大了炫耀太平岛的努力，该岛距离台湾1500公里，距离越南和菲律宾只有500公里。

Over a lunch of locally grown coconuts, chicken and other Taiping ingredients, Bruce Linghu, Taiwan’s foreign minister, says his government must fight to influence public opinion because it is excluded from The Hague arbitration court hearing the Philippines case and other international bodies at the behest of China, which claims self-governing Taiwan is one of its provinces.

台湾招待上岛记者的午餐包括当地出产的椰子、鸡肉和其他太平岛物产，台湾外交部次长令狐荣达(Bruce Linghu)在午餐期间表示，台湾政府必须致力于影响公众舆论，因为在中国大陆的要求下，台湾被审理菲律宾仲裁案的海牙仲裁法庭及其他国际机构排除在外。中国大陆方面称，自治的台湾是中国的一个省份。

Ian Storey, a fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, says one of the ironies of Taiwan’s position on Taiping is that it supports China’s increasingly assertive efforts to dominate the waters.

新加坡东南亚研究所(ISEAS)研究员伊恩?斯托里(Ian Storey)表示，台湾在太平岛问题上的立场的一个讽刺之处在于，台湾支持中国大陆越来越强硬的主导该海域的努力。

Beijing and Taipei make similar “U-shaped line” claims to almost the entire South China Sea, although China is using its growing military and economic power to enforce its interests, while Taiwan only occupies one island, using its coast guard rather than armed forces.

中国大陆和台湾对几乎整个南中国海提出了类似的“U型线”主张，不过中国大陆正利用其日益增长的军事和经济实力保证其利益，而台湾只凭借海岸警卫队（而非武装力量）占据着一个岛。

“Taiwan has to be careful in the South China Sea because they don’t want to be viewed as China’s proxy and they don’t want to alienate the US or anger other Southeast Asian claimants who they want to trade with,” says Mr Storey.

斯托里表示：“台湾必须在南中国海保持谨慎，因为他们不希望被视为中国大陆的代表，也不希望疏远美国或激怒台湾愿与之发展贸易、在该海域声索主权的东南亚国家。”

After condemning what it calls China’s efforts to militarise these waters, the US government also criticised Mr Ma’s focus on Taiping, saying it is “extremely unhelpful” and urging Taiwan and all claimants to “lower tensions, rather than taking actions that could raise them”.

美国政府在谴责其所称的中国军事化南中国海的企图后，还批评了马英九对太平岛的关注。美国表示马英九的这种做法“极其没有帮助”，并敦促台湾以及所有主权声索方“缓和紧张局势，不要采取可能扩大紧张局势的行动”。

Jonathan Spangler, director of the South China Sea think-tank in Taipei, says the fight over Taiping’s status has much wider implications because it is the biggest natural feature in the Spratlys and the only one with a serious claim to be an island in international law.

台北南海智库(South China Sea think-tank)负责人乔纳森?斯潘格勒(Jonathan Spangler)表示，围绕太平岛地位的纷争有着更广泛的影响，因为该岛是斯普拉特利群岛的最大天然地物，也是唯一一个依据国际法被严肃主张为岛屿的天然地物。

He points out that while China has built a much bigger air base on reclaimed land at nearby Fiery Cross Reef, such man-made features cannot generate an exclusive economic zone.

他指出，尽管中国大陆在附近的永暑礁(Fiery Cross Reef)通过填海造陆建起了大得多的空军基地，但这种人造地物没资格拥有专属经济区。

“If Taiping is officially an island and none of China’s occupied features are considered islands by international law, it could throw the whole focus of the South China Sea disputes back to cross-Strait relations,” he says.

他表示：“如果太平岛被正式列为岛屿，而中国大陆占据的地物都未被国际法视为岛屿，可能会让南中国海争端的整个焦点回到海峡两岸关系上。”