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CNN Student News - 03/31/16

A tiny island in the South China Sea plays a role in a large regional dispute, and U.S. companies work to prove the viability of the Hyperloop.

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Will a tiny island in the South China Sea make a big difference in the territorial dispute over the region?

I`m Carl Azuz and that`s what we`re exploring first up today. It`s good to see you.

We`ll start by moving over to Taiwan. It`s a country that lays claim to Itu Aba Island, also known as Taiping Island, which is about a three-hour flight from southern Taiwan.

It`s part of the Spratly Islands, home to around 200 people. And if United Nations Court rules that this island can support human life, it could give Taiwan control of the territory around it, fishing rights, permission to explore for minerals around the island. There`s a lot tied in to that decision.

But, China, which also has interests in the region, doesn`t accept the court`s authority. And Taiping Island is just one component of a larger dispute, a larger struggle to define who owns what.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The contested waters of the South China Sea, seen from a Taiwanese military plane. And this is what greets you when you land at Taiping, an island controlled by Taiwan.

(on camera): Taiping is a tiny island. It basically runs the length of this runway. The Taiwanese government first laid claim to this place more than half a century ago,

but this is the very first time the government says that journalists have been invited to see it firsthand. And it`s at a time when tensions are ratcheting up here in the South China Sea.

(voice-over): At least six different countries have competing claims for this body of water. But China claims almost all of it.

And to cement China`s claim, Beijing has been building a series of manmade islands atop reefs and atolls in the hotly disputed Spratly archipelago. It`s making the neighbors nervous.

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