According to reliable historical records, it was used as a fishing stop by Chinese Hainanese fishermen in the second half of the 19th century at the latest. Beginning in the late 1910s, the Japanese hired Taiwanese to colonize nine small islands including Taiping Island, collectively calling the islands in this area the "New South Islands". In the late 1920s, France (French Vietnam) and Japan started a dispute over the sovereignty of the Nansha Islands. During World War II, the Japanese reoccupied Taiping Island and put it under the jurisdiction of the Taiwan Governor's Office in the name of "New South Islands". In the post-World War II territorial arrangements, there was no consensus on the ownership of Taiping Island.
Finally, the "San Francisco Peace Treaty" only stipulates that Japan "renounces sovereignty", but does not confirm who belongs to the sovereignty. Just like Dongsha Island, in 1946, when the Republic of China noticed the islands in the South China Sea and was preparing to "take over", there was a proposal that it should be assigned to Taiwan Province, but in the whatsapp list end it was assigned to Guangdong Province. In 1950, the Kuomintang had withdrawn from Taiping Island. But in 1956, the Republic of China (the government already in Taiwan) returned to Taiping Island and occupied it to this day. But given this complicated history, even if it is believed that "Taiping Island belongs to China", it is still controversial whether it "belongs to Guangdong" or "belongs to Taiwan".
In terms of historical origin, it seems that "belonging to Taiwan" is more sufficient, but it is not unreasonable to say that it "belongs to Guangdong" or "belongs to Hainan" (Hainan was established as a separate province in 1988). Diaoyutai Also an island with international territorial disputes, Diaoyutai is now effectively under Japanese rule. Both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) did not claim sovereignty over Diaoyutai until 1970. According to cross-strait (since the 1970s) tradition, Diaoyutai is an affiliated island of Taiwan.