Taiwanese island is tourist paradox

By Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press writer

PRATAS ISLAND, Taiwan -- The white sand of the beach is like talcum powder and the water is turquoise blue. But instead of cheerful beach cabanas, sinister concrete fortifications line the shore.

Half island paradise, half snarling fortress, this tiny, horseshoe-shaped atoll lies in the middle of the contested South China Sea, about 270 miles (432 kilometers) from Taiwan's southern tip.

It might seem an unlikely destination for a seaside holiday.

Yet, officials in southern Taiwan are betting that visitors with a taste for adventure won't let the Pratas Island's guns and remote location -- in one of the region's potential flashpoints -- deter them from visiting.

Pratas' sunny seascape and diving and fishing opportunities are too good to be missed, while all the weapons should be a comfort, they say.

Here the Guns of Navarone meet the Blue Lagoon.

The presence of tourists on the island outpost would add a new wrinkle to the low-intensity shoving match among countries that claim territory in the Pratas, Spratly and other island chains in the South China Sea.

Pratas is also claimed by China, Taiwan's main rival since they split amid civil war in 1949. Military tensions between the two countries flared last summer.

Far from Taiwan and difficult to reinforce, Pratas was singled out by some military analysts as a possible target if China wanted to show it was serious about its threat to use force against Taiwan.

The other countries that claim territory in the South China -- Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam -- trade threats, accusations and occasional gunfire, while efforts to develop the region's mineral wealth and other potential riches have been halting.

Approaching Pratas by air from Taiwan's southern city of Kaohsiung, about a 11/2 hour trip, the island springs from a deep blue sea, bracketed by waves breaking on a pair of reefs.

Stepping off the plane and looking in one direction, the sea laps against a white sand beach while palm trees sway in a breeze bearing the ocean's sharp, salty ocean smell. Seabirds circle languidly under the dazzling sun.

Shift your gaze slightly though and a concrete bunker springs into view, then a tank, its gun barrel pointed toward a coral reef beyond. Sentries in battle dress carrying M-16s patrol a spit of sand near the airstrip in front of bunkers with names like "Fort Loyalty."

Luring tourists here presents a few problems, first among them a lack of scheduled flights or boat service to Pratas.

The 2.4-square-kilometer (1-square-mile) coral atoll has no hotel, no shops and no civilian residents.

Beaches are barricaded and mined, and tourist attractions on land are limited to markers set up to proclaim Taiwan's sovereignty and a shrine to the Chinese war god Kuankung.

Getting around the island depends on catching a ride on a marine Humvee or World War II-era trucks.

"It's kind of different, but we definitely see possibilities," says Chen Wen-hsiung, who organizes cruises leaving from Kaohsiung.

The garrison "ought to make visitors feel safe," he says.

Frank Hsieh, mayor of Kaohsiung city, which has jurisdiction over Pratas, wants to use the island to overhaul Kaohsiung's image as a busy, polluted port and industrial center.

"This is a great resource to turn us into a tourist destination," Hsieh said on a recent excursion that offered reporters and the public a rare look at the island. "We'll be putting it on all our posters."

Officials and tour operators say they can sidestep some of the infrastructure problems by simply lodging tourists aboard floating hotels and focusing visits on diving. With an estimated 50,000 hard-core Taiwanese divers looking for an new spot to explore, there should be no shortage of potential visitors, they say.

"I don't think the hassles would discourage people. We all want to go to Pratas. The coral is supposed to be amazing," says Chen Tung-lung, owner of the Tung Lung Diving school on Green Island, off Taiwan's east coast.

In addition to welcoming tourists, Taiwan is rethinking management of its island holdings in other ways as well.

The military announced in November that it plans to withdraw the marine garrison on Pratas, along with the one on Taiping Island, the biggest member of the Spratlys archipelago.

Even though the coast guard will still be armed, the military hopes the move will lower tensions in the area because they will act more like a police force than an occupying army dedicated to fighting off intruders.

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