evidence: Pratas Island is 260 kilometers (140 nautical miles) away from Shantou, in China’s Guangdong Province, 315 kilometers (170 nautical miles) southeast of Hong Kong, 740 kilometers (400 nautical miles) northwest of Manila, and 450 kilometers (240 nautical miles) away from Kaohsiung, Taiwan. While the island is of significant geostrategic importance along the major sea route connecting the Pacific and Indian oceans, it is not considered to be explicitly covered by the Taiwan Relations Act, which only mentions the islands of Taiwan and the Pescadores (Penghu Islands, 澎湖群島). Pratas Island was first placed under the administration of Kaohsiung in 1939 and is now treated as a component part of the city. [1] Due to the island’s unique position, it seems likely that US reactions to a contingency in Pratas Island would be different from a military crisis involving Taiwan or Penghu. Regarding the security situation of Pratas Island, Japanese scholars Yoshiyuki Ogasawara and Rira Momma have given stern warnings of the possibility of a Chinese military attack.