China issues plan to revitalise – and potentially commercialise – uninhabited islands

China has proposed to manage natural resources – including minerals – more comprehensively, focusing on its uninhabited islands and reclaimed land in an apparent effort to benefit local economies through commercialisation. A document issued by the general offices of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee as well as the State Council, China’s cabinet, called for establishing an uninhabited-island “rights system” and promoting a “unified registration of land rights for natural resources”..