Pingtan Island Pingtan Island Pingtan Island () also called Haitan Island (海坛岛, "Hǎitán dǎo") is off the east coast of Fujian province, China. It is the largest island in Fujian and the fifth largest island in China. Pingtan, as a result of its 2010-built bridge connecting it to the mainland, makes it lie at the "de facto" narrowest gap between the island of Taiwan and the Chinese mainland. It has long been a standard point of distinction between the East China Sea and South China Sea. Administratively, the island has become part of Pingtan County, which includes the smaller surrounding islands and
First Taiwan Strait Crisis of southeastern China. Hainan island fell to the Communists in April 1950 and the Choushan islands were evacuated by the Nationalists in May 1950, even before the First Taiwan Strait Crisis. The Matsu and Kinmen island groups, situated in the Taiwan Strait just off the coast of the Chinese mainland, were the Nationalists' first line of defense against the Communist Party of China and were heavily fortified by Chiang. The islands off the shore of Zhejiang province were seen as a foothold to recover the mainland and housed the reduced provincial government of Chiang's native province. While the United States