arbitration proceedings against China's "nine-dash line" claim which includes Taiping Island controlled by Taiwan. Both China and Taiwan have strongly rejected the ruling. Geography Ecology The flora and fauna present on and surrounding the island include swallows, papaya plant, coast oak, terminalia trees, lotus leaf tung tree, goodeniaceae, sea lemon, long stem chrysanthemum, long-saddle rattan, gray grass, coconut tree, banana tree, white-tailed tropicbird, sparrow hawk, tropical fish, jellyfish and various other organisms. The Island is also a nesting ground for green sea turtles migrating from Philippines. Geology and landform The island has a long and narrow shape that is low and flat, that is approximately 1,289.3 metres (1410 yards) long and 365.7 metres (400 yards) wide. The area of the north–south coastline is 41.3 hectares (102 acres), and the coastal vegetation line range is 36.6 hectares (90 acres). The mean tidewater over land area is approximately 49 hectares (120 acres), and during low sea tides the water reefs and land area is 98 hectares (250 acres), 4-6 metres (13' to 20') above sea level. Since Taiping island is a coral island, the surface includes fine sand and coral reefs formed by weathering. Around the island are sandy beaches, with narrower beaches on the south and north sides 5 metres (16') wide, on the east side 20 metres (65') wide, and on the southwest side 50 metres (165') wide. The sand accumulated on the beach is rosy coloured, mainly formed from red coral fragments and shell debris. A 523-metre long core sample was obtained by the CPC Corporation. The rock layers were estimated to be as old as 780,000 years at the 43-metre mark and over 2 million years past the 130-metre mark. Natural resources The island has historically been mined for phosphates to the point of exhaustion, and today has no major natural resources. There is potentially a large amount of undiscovered reserves of oil and natural gas beneath surrounding waters within the South China Sea Basin, however, there has yet to be formal exploration and mining conducted. Weather Taiping Island has a tropical monsoon climate, with the temperature varying between 21 and 35 degrees Celsius (70 to 90°F). There is a strong southwest monsoon in summer months in June and July, with strong southwest wind and currents, and during the time typhoons become frequent there is abundant rainfall. The rainy season occurs during November and December. Government and politics