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Why did the Japanese build roads and railways on Hainan Island?
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Hainan
Beach on Wuzhizhou Island, far southern Hainan province, China.
During their occupation of Hainan Island from 1939 to 1945, the Japanese military constructed roads and short railway lines primarily to facilitate the extraction and transport of the island's natural resources.1
Specifically, these transportation links were developed to exploit the island's mineral wealth, including iron ore located in the southwestern mountains, bauxite in the south, and alluvial tin deposits found along the northern coast. In addition to mineral extraction, the Japanese occupation saw an expansion in the production of rubber and other tropical goods, which the infrastructure helped to support.12