evidence: Hainan is China’s smallest and southernmost province. Slightly bigger than Belgium, the province has an area of 33,920 square kilometers, and is made up of two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off China’s southern coast. At 32,900 square kilometers, Hainan Island comprises 97% of Hainan Province’s land mass. Hainan is situated in the South China Sea, separated from Guangdong’s Leizhou Peninsula to the north by the thin Qiongzhou or Hainan Strait. The west coast of Hainan Island is about 320 km east of Vietnam, across the Gulf of Tonkin. Haikou is Hainan Island’s capital. Historically, Hainan was part of Guangdong province, but became a separate province in 1988. China asserts that Hainan’s territory includes the Spratly Islands, the Paracel Islands, and other disputed marine territory. China’s assertions are contested by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam in the case of the former, and Taiwan and Vietnam in the case of the latter. There is no definitive international recognition of sovereignty for either archipelago.