Thitu Island

Thitu Island, also known as Pag-asa Island (Filipino: Pulo ng Pag-asa, lit. 'Island of Hope'); Đảo Thị Tứ (Vietnamese: Đảo Thị Tứ); Zhongye Island (Chinese: 中业岛/中業島; pinyin: Zhōngyè Dǎo) is the second largest of the naturally occurring islands in Spratly Islands, having an area of 37.2 hectares (92 acres). It lies about 500 kilometers (310 mi) west of Puerto Princesa. Its neighbors are the North Danger Reef to the north, Subi Reef to the southwest, and the Loaita and Tizard Banks to the south. As the poblacion (administrative center) of the Kalayaan municipality of Palawan province in the Philippines, it also administers nearly a dozen other islets, cays and reefs in the Spratly Islands. The island is 270 nautical miles (500 km; 310 mi) west from Palawan, Philippines.

In 1971, following a storm on the island, the island was seized by the Philippines from the Republic of China (Taiwan). It is administered by the Philippines as a part of the Kalayaan municipality of Palawan Province.

In May 2020, the island's new sheltered port, and harbor were built, as well as a beaching ramp at the tip of the airstrip. In early 2023, the concreting of the runway was completed. Civilian infrastructure on the island include the airstrip, a lighthouse, a 5-bed lying-in clinic, a communication tower powered by Smart, and a small integrated elementary and high school.

The island is the largest of the Philippine-administered islands in Spratly Islands. While most of the occupants of the structures in the Spratly Islands are military personnel or temporary tourists, the island is the only one with a permanent civilian settlement. China (PRC), Taiwan (ROC) and Vietnam also claim the island.

The Filipino (Tagalog) name of the island is Pag-asa ("Hope"). It is also variously called in the following languages, English: Thitu Island; Mandarin simplified Chinese: 中业岛; traditional Chinese: 中業島; pinyin: Zhōngyè Dǎo; Vietnamese: Đảo Thị Tứ; Hokkien Chinese: 鐵峙/铁峙/鐵堆; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Thih-tu; lit. 'Iron Shoal'.

Hokkien Chinese fishermen historically called the island Thih-tu (Chinese: 鐵峙/铁峙/鐵堆; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Thih-tu; lit. 'Iron Shoal'; in Hokkien Min Nan pronounced [tʰiʔ tu]). It is sometimes incorrectly referred to as "Tiezhi Island" from the Mandarin reading (Chinese: 鐵峙島/铁峙岛; pinyin: Tiězhì Dǎo; lit. 'Iron Shoal Island'); Tiezhi Reef [zh] (铁峙礁; 鐵寺礁) refers to another area 7.5 km northeast of this island. The modern Mandarin Chinese name of the island was taken from one of the battleships named Chung-yeh (Chinese: 中業號; pinyin: Zhōngyè Hào), sent by the Chinese government during the Republic of China era to regain control of the island in 1946.

There are historical records of the island having been inhabited, at various times in history, by fishermen from Champa in present-day Vietnam and the Chinese, and during the Second World War by French Indochina and Imperial Japanese troops.

In June 1763, the British East India Company ship Earl Temple sank on the reefs of Thitu Island en route to Manila. Three crewmembers survived for months on the island, built a raft, and used bird feathers to make a sail. The castaways were able to reach Vietnam, later China, and from there return to England. In 1997 the shipwreck of the Earl Temple was discovered by Philippine authorities, and artifacts were recovered and are now displayed at the National Museum of the Philippines.