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
Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower States and seven other countries created the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), a defensive alliance dedicated to preventing the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia. In 1954, China began shelling tiny islands off the coast of Mainland China which were controlled by the Republic of China (ROC). The shelling nearly escalated to nuclear war as Eisenhower considered using nuclear weapons to prevent the invasion of Taiwan, the main island controlled by the ROC. The crisis ended when China ended the shelling and both sides agreed to diplomatic talks; a second crisis in 1958 would end in a similar fashion. During