China has more than 6,900 islands and more than 10,000 small isles, according to the Chinese governmental media On 26 December 2009, China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC) standing committee, passed a law protecting the islets. According to the Xinhua News, China will strengthen the protection of its eco-system, the utilization of natural resources, and the development on Chinese sea islands. The law prohibits coastal reclamation of quarry stone or sand in both inhabited and uninhabited sea islands, bans all construction projects, the cutting of trees and tourist activities on uninhabited sea islands. All development projects on inhabited islands will be subject to strict environmental impact assessment. Both Japan and some countries from ASEAN are getting extremely nervous because this law might apply all disputed islets with China including the Diaoyu Islands, Paracels Archipelagos, and Spratlys Archipelagos.