Last year China passed a law that allows individuals or companies to hire uninhabited islands off the country's coast. In April China's Ocean and Fisheries Bureau announces the list of the 176 uninhabited islands, part of which can be offered for rent. These islands are to everyone's taste - most have an area of 500-1.000 square meters. There are islands at the north-eastern Liaoning province and by the tropical island of Hainan.

The islands that are not classified as protected national areas and with the area more than 500 square meters can be rented for 50 years. There is no legal reason why foreigners or foreign companies cannot hire one for themselves. The prices for hiring an island has not been confirmed yet, most likely it will be set for each particular case and the closer the island to the shore the more it will cost. In case there are several bids for one island, the owner will be chosen through the auction by a high bidder.

Those who wish to rent the island will need to submit a detailed plan for the future use. Officials are also interested in how the owner will decide the matter of waste disposal and landscaping of the island. Ocean and Fisheries Bureau continues an inventory of all the islands, which belong to China. According to data of 1998, China owns about 7 thousand islands with the area of more than 500 square meters. At the end of last year marine patrol services found more than 30 cases of illegal exploitation of the coastal islands.

China's desire to use the offshore islands efficiently is quite logical and economically reasonable. However there are a lot of problems concerning with islands development, and first of all - high cost for the construction works (material supply and etc.), as well as providing drinking water, electricity and so on.