Geography of Taiwan and Green Island to the southeast, separated from the northernmost islands of the Philippines by the Bashi Channel. The islands of Kinmen and Matsu near the coast of Fujian across the Taiwan Strait have a total area of ; the Pratas and Taiping islets in the South China Sea are also administered by the ROC, but are not part of the Taiwanese archipelago. The island of Taiwan was formed approximately 4 to 5 million years ago at a complex convergent boundary between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate. In a boundary running the length of the island and
Taiwan Province, People's Republic of China of Taiwanese Aborigines adopted by the ROC. Instead, the PRC government classifies all Taiwanese Aboriginese as "Gaoshan" people, one of the 56 recognized ethnicities of China. In July 2017, Taiwanese crew members of the Malaysian airline AirAsia X were required to change their nationality from Taiwan (TWN) to China (CHN) for any flight flying to and from Mainland China. In 2017 Xinhua News Agency issued guidelines abolishing the term Taiwan Province, People's Republic of China. Although Taiwan is a traditional province of China, considering the circumenstances, Taiwan Area is used instead. This apparently does not include Kinmen and Matsu, which