China’s recent unilateral acts in the East Sea, particularly its illegalplacement of the Haiyang Shiyou-981 oil rig in Vietnam’s exclusiveeconomic zone and continental shelf, seriously violated Vietnam’ssovereignty and international law, threatening peace, stability,security, safety and freedom of navigation in the East Sea.
To vindicate its wrong actions, China claims to have evidenceproving its sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly)archipelagoes, which belong to Vietnam .
In thisarticle, the Vietnam News Agency provides readers with historical andlegal evidence of Vietnam ’s sovereignty over the two archipelagoes aswell as the true nature of China ’s so-called ‘proof’.
Legal historical evidence of Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes
Due to many reasons, such as historical circumstances, wars and poorpreservation conditions, many historical documents relating to Vietnam’s Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes have been damaged or lost.However, even with this setback there is a wealth of existing historicaland geographical documentation held by Vietnam which proves thatthe country discovered the two archipelagoes a long time ago. Itoccupied and exercised sovereignty over them for at least fivecenturies, through many dynasties.
The “Tuyen tapThien Nam Tu Chi Lo Do Thu” (A Route Map from the Capital in the FourDirections) drawn by Do Ba in the 17 th century gave a very accuratedescription of the two archipelagoes and confirmed that the Nguyen Lordsestablished the Hoang Sa Flotilla to exploit Hoang Sa islands in the 17th century.
“During the last month of everywinter, the Nguyen Lords send a flotilla of 18 boats to Bai Cat Vang(Hoang Sa) to collect goods, and they brought back a large amount ofgold, silver, coins, guns and ammunition. It took one day and a half tosail from Dai Chiem river mouth to the islands, but only half a day fromSa Ky ,” the book reads.
The book also citessome writings from the third part of the “Hong Duc Ban Do” (Hong DucMaps) collection dating from the 15 th century, which read, “In Kim HoVillage, there are two mountains on the two banks of the river, eachmountain has a gold mine run by the State. Offshore, an archipelago withlong sandbanks rise above the sea, called “Bai Cat Vang” (GoldenSandbank), which is about 400 “li” (a unit of measurement used inancient Vietnam equivalent to about half a kilometre) in length and 20“li” in width, facing the coastline between Dai Chiem river mouth andthat of Sa Vinh. During the South-West monsoon season, foreigncommercial ships sailing along the coast of the sandbanks are oftenwrecked and run aground there; many boats suffer the same fate duringthe North-East monsoon season. All those who land on the islands aftertheir ships sank starve to death and the cargo piles up.”
The document indicated that Vietnam discovered or knew about the islands at least as early as the 15 th century.
Hoang Sa and Truong Sa were also recorded in detail in some ancientbibliographies, especially the official documents of the Nguyen Dynasty.“Phu bien tap luc” (Miscellaneous Records of Pacification in the BorderArea), written by Le Quy Don in 1776, mentions Vietnam’s exercise ofsovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes in the 18 thcentury.
“In Quang Ngai prefecture, offshore An Vinh commune,Binh Son district, there is a mountainous island called Re, which is30-“dam” wide (dam-an old measurement unit in Vietnam, equivalent tohalf a kilometre). It takes four “canh” ( Vietnam ’s old measurementunit equivalent to two hours) to reach the island, on which there is award named Tu Chinh where residents live on bean-growing. Furtheroffshore are Dai Truong Sa Island, where there used to be plenty of seaproducts and goods from wrecked ships; the Hoang Sa flotilla was createdto gather these things. It takes three days and three nights to reachthere. Foreign trade boats usually anchor at the island to take shelterfrom storm.
“In the past, the Nguyen lords set up the Hoang SaFlotilla with 70 crew members who were selected among An Vinhvillagers. They took turn to sail to sea every March on five smallboats, bringing along food quota for six months. They used to reach theislands after a voyage of three days and three nights. In addition,there was a Bac Hai detachment whose members were recruited from ThuChinh commune in Binh Thuan province or from Canh Duong village. It wassent to Bac Hai areas, the island of Con Lon , and other islands inHa Tien to gather items from wrecked ships and sea products. The BacHai detachment was under the command of the Hoang Sa flotilla,” itwrote.
This document shows that the Hoang Sa and BacHai detachments exploited the two archipelagoes from the 17 th to thelate 18 th century. Their activities were conducted systematically. Thedetachments performed their tasks in the islands for eight months eachyear. Sailors were recruited and paid by the royal court, and performedthe tasks at the order of the royal court.
Today,which is hundreds of years later, in the second and third lunar monthsevery year, people in Ly Son Island, central Quang Ngai province, stillmaintain rituals in commemoration of Hoang Sa soldiers. The annual “Lekhao le the linh Hoang Sa” (Feast and Commemoration Festival for HoangSa Soldiers) pays tribute to the men enlisted in the flotilla to performmissions at the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos. They tapped thearea’s natural resources and defended national island sovereignty.
Activities organised by the Nguyen Lord to exploit Hoang Sa and TruongSa archipelagoes and other islands were also recorded in many otherbooks and documents. Some of them are:
·“Kham dinh Dai Nam hoi dien su le” (Dai Nam Administrative Repertory)and “Lich trieu hien chuong loai chi” (Classified Rules of Dynasties)compiled by Phan Huy Chu
· “Viet su cuong giam khao luoc” (A Brief History of Vietnam) by Nguyen Thong
· “Hoang Viet dia du chi” (Geography of Imperial Vietnam)and “Dai Nam nhat thong chi” (History of the Unified Dai Nam) by theNational Historiographer’s Office of the Nguyen Dynasty
·Official documents of the Nguyen Dynasty under the reigns ofKing Minh Menh (1820-1840) and King Thieu Tri (1841-1847)
Many historical documents also record Vietnam ’s official ownershipand exercise of sovereignty over the two archipelagoes in the 19thcentury. “Dai Nam thuc luc chinh bien” (The Main Part of The Chroniclesof Dai Nam) writes that in the Year of the Mouse during the 15 th yearof the Gia Long reign (1816), the king commanded the navy and the HoangSa flotilla to sail to Hoang Sa archipelago for a sea route survey.
In 1833, King Minh Menh ordered the planting of stone steles, treesand poles as well as the building of a temple on Hoang Sa archipelago.Volume No. 104 of the “Dai Nam thuc luc chinh bien” states, “In theeighth month, during the autumn of the Year of the Snake, the 14 thyear of the Minh Menh reign (1833), the king issued an edict to theMinistry of Public Works which read,” In the waters of Quang Ngai, thereis the Hoang Sa strip. From a distance, the sky and the sea there havethe same colour, which makes it difficult to estimate the depth of thesea. Recently, many trading boats had gone aground there. Now you shouldprepare junks, and next year send people to the area to build a temple,erect steles and plant trees on this land. When the trees grow up, itis easy for people to see them from afar, thus avoiding running aground.This will benefit many generations”.
Volume No. 122of the collection wrote, “In the Year of the Horse, the 15 th year ofthe Minh Menh reign, the king ordered Captain Truong Phuc Si and morethan 20 sailors to sail to Hoang Sa to draw a map of the archipelago…”.
Volume No. 154 recorded that in 1835, the building of the temple and the planting of stone steles had been completed.
Volume No. 165 wrote, “The King approved a proposal by the Ministry ofPublic Works and ordered a Suat Doi (Commander) of the Navy, Pham HuuNhat, to command a fleet and bring ten wooden steles to be used asmarkers in the area. Each wooden stele is five “thuoc” long, five “tac”wide and one “tac” thick (one thuoc equivalent to 40cm and one tac,4cm), and is engraved with the words: “In the 17 th year of the MinhMenh reign, the Year of the Monkey, Commander Pham Huu Nhat of the Navy,complying with the order to go to Hoang Sa for management and surveypurposes, arrived here and therefore placed this sign.”
Under the Nguyen Dynasty (the 19 th century), the measurement of searoutes and drawing of maps of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes wereconducted annually by the Ministry of Public Works. In particular, in1834, the Nguyen court, under the reign of King Minh Menh, completed andofficially announced a national map called “Dai Nam nhat thong toan do”(The Complete Map of the Unified Dai Nam). The map featured Vietnam ’scoastline and islands in detail, noting the country’s sovereignty overthe archipelagoes in the East Sea .
Before theMinh Menh reign, Hoang Sa and Truong Sa was considered as a singlearchipelago called Hoang Sa or sometimes Van Ly Truong Sa. However,after King Minh Menh sent working teams to survey and measure theislands, the later map (which is the “Dai Nam nhat thong toan do”)recorded two different names for the two archipelagoes.
In addition to ancient books and official documents, many old mapsalso indicated that Hoang Sa and Truong Sa belong to Vietnam ’ssovereignty. According to “Dai Viet su ky toan thu” (The CompleteHistory of Dai Viet), as early as in 1467, King Le Thanh Tong orderedtopography surveys of localities to draw a national map. The Hong DucMaps collection, which was completed in 1469 and then supplemented manytimes, comprises a national map and maps of localities featuring thecountry’s seas and islands.
Internationally recognised historical and legal proof of Vietnam ’s sovereignty
From the 16 th century, there were many publication and maps drawn byWestern navigators which depicted the archipelago in the middle of theEast Sea called “Pracel”, “Paracel” or “Paracels” as belonging toVietnam ’s sovereignty.
The “World Map” ofMercator, published in Amsterdam , the Netherlands in 1606 namedthe archipelago in the middle of the East Sea Baixos de Chapar (theShoal of Champa) or Pulo Capaa (the Islands of Champa).
Maps drawn by Bartholomeu Lasso in 1590 and between 1592-1594 whichwere published in the “Les Portugains sur les cotes du Vietnam et duCampa” collection of P.Y.Manguim in Paris in 1972, and a famous mapdrawn by Van Langren in 1598, which is included in the “IconographieHistorique de l’Indochine” by P. Boudet and A. Masson, published inParis in 1931, all show a stretch of coastline corresponding to the areafrom the Dai Chien river mouth in Quang Nam province to Sa Ky rivermoutn in Quang Ngai province, under the name of “Costa da Pracel” (theCoast of Paracel).
A map drawn by Jodocus Hondiusin 1613 shows the ‘Pracel’ (Hoang Sa) archipelago as encompassing allislands of Vietnam from the south of the Tonkin Gulf to the end of thecountry’s southern waters, except for Pulo Condor (Con Dao) and PuloCici (Phu Quoc) which were drawn separately.
Inparticular, “An Nam Dai quoc hoa do” (The Map of the Great Country of AnNam) made by Bishop Jean Louis Taberd and published in 1838 is said toreflect in-depth and precise knowledge of Western people about therelationship between Hoang Sa archipelago and Dai Viet, which the authorcalled An Nam Dai Quoc (The Great Country of An Nam) from the 15 th toearly 19 th centuries. The map affirmed that Cat Vang (Hoang Sa) isthe Paracels and is located within the waters of Vietnam .
“The Times Atlas of the World”, or the Atlas in short, includes a mapclearly named as “the map of the Dang Trong area” (the central part ofVietnam ). The territory of the Empire of An Nam (the former name ofVietnam ) is featured in four maps. A summary introduction about theEmpire of An Nam is attached besides the Hoang Sa archipelago in themap, affirming that the archipelago is part of the Dang Trong area,which belongs to the present-day Vietnam .
Mapsin the atlas demonstrate that China ’s southernmost boundary does notreach the 18 th parallel. All maps published by China up to thefirst decade of the 20 th century are also consistent with Westernmaps, and none of them depict China ’s southernmost territory beyondthe 18 th parallel. It stops at Hainan Islands .
Thus, Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoesis acquired by two means: the historical right deriving from thelong-lasting use and occupation of an ownerless territory under the timeof the Nguyen Lords from the 17 th to the 18 th century and thesovereignty formed from the official occupation and uninterruptedexercise of sovereign under the Nguyen Dynasty in the 19 th century.
Following the Nguyen Dynasty’s exercise ofsovereignty, during the period of French colonisation in Vietnam (fromthe late 19 th century to the first half of the 20 th century), in the1945-1975 period, and since national reunification in 1975, Vietnam hasalways maintained its exercise of sovereignty over Hoang Sa and TruongSa as well as its real management and exploitation of the archipelagoes.
The truth about the sovereignty claims of China :
Facing historical and legal evidence provided by Vietnam to prove hersovereignty over both Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes, severalChinese scholars and officials have quoted ancient documents in anattempt to prove their country’s discovery of the archipelagoes and theexercise of sovereignty there. They cited books such as “ Hou Han Shu”(Book of Later Han) and “ Yi Wu Zhi ” (Records of strange things) fromthe Han era and “ Zhu Fan Zhi ” (Notes on foreign countries) (the 13thcentury), “ Hai Lu ” (Oceanic records) by Yang Ping-nan (1820-1842),Nanzhou Yi wu zhi (Exotic things of the Southern region), Daoyi Zhilue(Overview of barbarous island countries), Guangdong Tongzhi (GeneralRecords of Guangdong province)… to prove that China discovered andexercised its sovereignty in Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes froman early date.
But in fact, the excerpts extracted from China’shistorical documents dating back before the 13 th century and cited byChinese scholars do not mention the name of any particular island, butonly the Nanhai. In addition, in those quoted pieces, the twoarchipelagoes were described only as physical landmarks observed bynavigators during their voyages crossing the East Sea . Only fromthe 13th century, the quoted pieces mentioned the name of some islands,but there were no such names as ‘Xi Sha’ and ‘Nan Sha’ (the names Chinagives to Hoang Sa and Truong Sa in Vietnam ).
Somelater historical sources described inspection, expeditionary andexploration trips China conducted in the region, including Hoang Saand Truong Sa. In particular, China argued that under the Ming dynastyin the 15 th century, explorer Zhenghe made seven journeys crossingthe East Sea and after that he put the name of the twoarchipelagoes on the map. However, those trips were not intended toclaim land. They in fact were meant to explore the sea to get a deeperunderstanding of its being, seek trade partners and show off force toregional countries. China cannot name any historical book thattestifies to its sovereignty over the two archipelagoes. Even in itshistorical documents in the 19 th century, when Vietnam ’s NguyenKings declared their ownership and exercise of sovereignty over Hoang Saand Truong Sa, the two archipelagoes were only described as things seenaccidently by Chinese ships on their journey passing the East Sea .
It was noticeable that China’s ancient documents, such asQiongzhou fu zhi (Geography of Qiongzhou), Guangdong sheng zhi(1731-Geography of Guangdong), Hoang Chao Yitong Yudi Zongtu (Chinesemap of the unified empire) in 1894.., all described and stated clearlythat China’s southernmost point was Hainan. In the Zhongguo Sihixue JiaoKeshu (Chinese Textbook of Geography), published in 1906, page 241reads “the southernmost point of China is the Jie Zhou coast, Qiongzhouisland, at 18 degrees 13 minutes north latitude”.
More thanthat, there are documents that implicitly acknowledge the link betweenthese archipelagoes and Vietnam , or even recognise these archipelagoesas the defence line of Vietnam . For example, Yang Ping Nan’s book“Hai Lu” (1820-1842) wrote “the external route is connected with theinner route by Van Ly Truong Sa which lies in the middle of the sea. Thearchipelago stretches tens of thousands of “dam” in length. It servesas a shield to defend the outer part of Annam .”
Chinahas many times cited the France-Qing agreement signed in 1887 toconfirm that Hoang Sa and Truong Sa belonged to them. However, theagreement did not regulate the demarcation of islands off the coast ofVietnam and China but mandated the boundary between Vietnam ’snorthern region and China .
Recently, China has quoted anumber of speeches and documents of Vietnam, in particular PrimeMinister Pham Van Dong’s diplomatic letter dated September 14, 1958addressed to the then Premier of China Zhou En Lai and argued thatVietnam had acknowledged China’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa archipelago.
In fact, the late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong’s diplomaticletter did not mention territorial and sovereignty issues relating toHoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes. It only acknowledged and approvedChina ’s expansion of its territorial sea to 12 nautical miles and atthe same time instructed Vietnamese agencies to respect the 12-nauticalmile limit declared by China . In addition, China knows only toowell that the issue of defining borders and territory between the twonations could not be handled via a diplomatic letter, it must go throughofficial negotiations by the two States and an agreement reached on theissue needs to be signed by representatives of the two States.
How did China occupy Hoang Sa and part of Hoang Sa?
Historical and legal evidence has proved Vietnam ’s undeniablesovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes. However, in 1956,China used force to occupy a cluster of islands called An Vinh ofHoang Sa archipelago. In 1974, it swallowed the entire archipelago. Andthey did not stop there; in 1988, China used force to take hold ofseveral reefs in Vietnam ’s Truong Sa archipelago. These are invasiveacts that seriously violated the sea and island sovereignty of theState of Vietnam and infringed the United Nations Charter andinternational law. They were not recognised by the internationalcommunity.
Vietnam has gone through a lot of wars duringwhich many Vietnamese laid down their lives for national independence,freedom and territorial integrity. In the face of the invadingactivities of China , her next-door neighbor, Vietnam has beenpursuing peaceful measures to request China respect Vietnam ’ssovereignty and territorial integrity in compliance with the spirit ofthe United Nations Charter as well as the 1982 UN Convention on the Lawof the Sea to which China is a signatory.
Vietnamresolutely and persistently defends the sacred sea and islandsovereignty over her Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes and stronglybelieves that justice will be enforced.-VNA
To vindicate its wrong actions, China claims to have evidenceproving its sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly)archipelagoes, which belong to Vietnam .
In thisarticle, the Vietnam News Agency provides readers with historical andlegal evidence of Vietnam ’s sovereignty over the two archipelagoes aswell as the true nature of China ’s so-called ‘proof’.
Legal historical evidence of Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes
Due to many reasons, such as historical circumstances, wars and poorpreservation conditions, many historical documents relating to Vietnam’s Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes have been damaged or lost.However, even with this setback there is a wealth of existing historicaland geographical documentation held by Vietnam which proves thatthe country discovered the two archipelagoes a long time ago. Itoccupied and exercised sovereignty over them for at least fivecenturies, through many dynasties.
The “Tuyen tapThien Nam Tu Chi Lo Do Thu” (A Route Map from the Capital in the FourDirections) drawn by Do Ba in the 17 th century gave a very accuratedescription of the two archipelagoes and confirmed that the Nguyen Lordsestablished the Hoang Sa Flotilla to exploit Hoang Sa islands in the 17th century.
“During the last month of everywinter, the Nguyen Lords send a flotilla of 18 boats to Bai Cat Vang(Hoang Sa) to collect goods, and they brought back a large amount ofgold, silver, coins, guns and ammunition. It took one day and a half tosail from Dai Chiem river mouth to the islands, but only half a day fromSa Ky ,” the book reads.
The book also citessome writings from the third part of the “Hong Duc Ban Do” (Hong DucMaps) collection dating from the 15 th century, which read, “In Kim HoVillage, there are two mountains on the two banks of the river, eachmountain has a gold mine run by the State. Offshore, an archipelago withlong sandbanks rise above the sea, called “Bai Cat Vang” (GoldenSandbank), which is about 400 “li” (a unit of measurement used inancient Vietnam equivalent to about half a kilometre) in length and 20“li” in width, facing the coastline between Dai Chiem river mouth andthat of Sa Vinh. During the South-West monsoon season, foreigncommercial ships sailing along the coast of the sandbanks are oftenwrecked and run aground there; many boats suffer the same fate duringthe North-East monsoon season. All those who land on the islands aftertheir ships sank starve to death and the cargo piles up.”
The document indicated that Vietnam discovered or knew about the islands at least as early as the 15 th century.
Hoang Sa and Truong Sa were also recorded in detail in some ancientbibliographies, especially the official documents of the Nguyen Dynasty.“Phu bien tap luc” (Miscellaneous Records of Pacification in the BorderArea), written by Le Quy Don in 1776, mentions Vietnam’s exercise ofsovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes in the 18 thcentury.
“In Quang Ngai prefecture, offshore An Vinh commune,Binh Son district, there is a mountainous island called Re, which is30-“dam” wide (dam-an old measurement unit in Vietnam, equivalent tohalf a kilometre). It takes four “canh” ( Vietnam ’s old measurementunit equivalent to two hours) to reach the island, on which there is award named Tu Chinh where residents live on bean-growing. Furtheroffshore are Dai Truong Sa Island, where there used to be plenty of seaproducts and goods from wrecked ships; the Hoang Sa flotilla was createdto gather these things. It takes three days and three nights to reachthere. Foreign trade boats usually anchor at the island to take shelterfrom storm.
“In the past, the Nguyen lords set up the Hoang SaFlotilla with 70 crew members who were selected among An Vinhvillagers. They took turn to sail to sea every March on five smallboats, bringing along food quota for six months. They used to reach theislands after a voyage of three days and three nights. In addition,there was a Bac Hai detachment whose members were recruited from ThuChinh commune in Binh Thuan province or from Canh Duong village. It wassent to Bac Hai areas, the island of Con Lon , and other islands inHa Tien to gather items from wrecked ships and sea products. The BacHai detachment was under the command of the Hoang Sa flotilla,” itwrote.
This document shows that the Hoang Sa and BacHai detachments exploited the two archipelagoes from the 17 th to thelate 18 th century. Their activities were conducted systematically. Thedetachments performed their tasks in the islands for eight months eachyear. Sailors were recruited and paid by the royal court, and performedthe tasks at the order of the royal court.
Today,which is hundreds of years later, in the second and third lunar monthsevery year, people in Ly Son Island, central Quang Ngai province, stillmaintain rituals in commemoration of Hoang Sa soldiers. The annual “Lekhao le the linh Hoang Sa” (Feast and Commemoration Festival for HoangSa Soldiers) pays tribute to the men enlisted in the flotilla to performmissions at the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos. They tapped thearea’s natural resources and defended national island sovereignty.
Activities organised by the Nguyen Lord to exploit Hoang Sa and TruongSa archipelagoes and other islands were also recorded in many otherbooks and documents. Some of them are:
·“Kham dinh Dai Nam hoi dien su le” (Dai Nam Administrative Repertory)and “Lich trieu hien chuong loai chi” (Classified Rules of Dynasties)compiled by Phan Huy Chu
· “Viet su cuong giam khao luoc” (A Brief History of Vietnam) by Nguyen Thong
· “Hoang Viet dia du chi” (Geography of Imperial Vietnam)and “Dai Nam nhat thong chi” (History of the Unified Dai Nam) by theNational Historiographer’s Office of the Nguyen Dynasty
·Official documents of the Nguyen Dynasty under the reigns ofKing Minh Menh (1820-1840) and King Thieu Tri (1841-1847)
Many historical documents also record Vietnam ’s official ownershipand exercise of sovereignty over the two archipelagoes in the 19thcentury. “Dai Nam thuc luc chinh bien” (The Main Part of The Chroniclesof Dai Nam) writes that in the Year of the Mouse during the 15 th yearof the Gia Long reign (1816), the king commanded the navy and the HoangSa flotilla to sail to Hoang Sa archipelago for a sea route survey.
In 1833, King Minh Menh ordered the planting of stone steles, treesand poles as well as the building of a temple on Hoang Sa archipelago.Volume No. 104 of the “Dai Nam thuc luc chinh bien” states, “In theeighth month, during the autumn of the Year of the Snake, the 14 thyear of the Minh Menh reign (1833), the king issued an edict to theMinistry of Public Works which read,” In the waters of Quang Ngai, thereis the Hoang Sa strip. From a distance, the sky and the sea there havethe same colour, which makes it difficult to estimate the depth of thesea. Recently, many trading boats had gone aground there. Now you shouldprepare junks, and next year send people to the area to build a temple,erect steles and plant trees on this land. When the trees grow up, itis easy for people to see them from afar, thus avoiding running aground.This will benefit many generations”.
Volume No. 122of the collection wrote, “In the Year of the Horse, the 15 th year ofthe Minh Menh reign, the king ordered Captain Truong Phuc Si and morethan 20 sailors to sail to Hoang Sa to draw a map of the archipelago…”.
Volume No. 154 recorded that in 1835, the building of the temple and the planting of stone steles had been completed.
Volume No. 165 wrote, “The King approved a proposal by the Ministry ofPublic Works and ordered a Suat Doi (Commander) of the Navy, Pham HuuNhat, to command a fleet and bring ten wooden steles to be used asmarkers in the area. Each wooden stele is five “thuoc” long, five “tac”wide and one “tac” thick (one thuoc equivalent to 40cm and one tac,4cm), and is engraved with the words: “In the 17 th year of the MinhMenh reign, the Year of the Monkey, Commander Pham Huu Nhat of the Navy,complying with the order to go to Hoang Sa for management and surveypurposes, arrived here and therefore placed this sign.”
Under the Nguyen Dynasty (the 19 th century), the measurement of searoutes and drawing of maps of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes wereconducted annually by the Ministry of Public Works. In particular, in1834, the Nguyen court, under the reign of King Minh Menh, completed andofficially announced a national map called “Dai Nam nhat thong toan do”(The Complete Map of the Unified Dai Nam). The map featured Vietnam ’scoastline and islands in detail, noting the country’s sovereignty overthe archipelagoes in the East Sea .
Before theMinh Menh reign, Hoang Sa and Truong Sa was considered as a singlearchipelago called Hoang Sa or sometimes Van Ly Truong Sa. However,after King Minh Menh sent working teams to survey and measure theislands, the later map (which is the “Dai Nam nhat thong toan do”)recorded two different names for the two archipelagoes.
In addition to ancient books and official documents, many old mapsalso indicated that Hoang Sa and Truong Sa belong to Vietnam ’ssovereignty. According to “Dai Viet su ky toan thu” (The CompleteHistory of Dai Viet), as early as in 1467, King Le Thanh Tong orderedtopography surveys of localities to draw a national map. The Hong DucMaps collection, which was completed in 1469 and then supplemented manytimes, comprises a national map and maps of localities featuring thecountry’s seas and islands.
Internationally recognised historical and legal proof of Vietnam ’s sovereignty
From the 16 th century, there were many publication and maps drawn byWestern navigators which depicted the archipelago in the middle of theEast Sea called “Pracel”, “Paracel” or “Paracels” as belonging toVietnam ’s sovereignty.
The “World Map” ofMercator, published in Amsterdam , the Netherlands in 1606 namedthe archipelago in the middle of the East Sea Baixos de Chapar (theShoal of Champa) or Pulo Capaa (the Islands of Champa).
Maps drawn by Bartholomeu Lasso in 1590 and between 1592-1594 whichwere published in the “Les Portugains sur les cotes du Vietnam et duCampa” collection of P.Y.Manguim in Paris in 1972, and a famous mapdrawn by Van Langren in 1598, which is included in the “IconographieHistorique de l’Indochine” by P. Boudet and A. Masson, published inParis in 1931, all show a stretch of coastline corresponding to the areafrom the Dai Chien river mouth in Quang Nam province to Sa Ky rivermoutn in Quang Ngai province, under the name of “Costa da Pracel” (theCoast of Paracel).
A map drawn by Jodocus Hondiusin 1613 shows the ‘Pracel’ (Hoang Sa) archipelago as encompassing allislands of Vietnam from the south of the Tonkin Gulf to the end of thecountry’s southern waters, except for Pulo Condor (Con Dao) and PuloCici (Phu Quoc) which were drawn separately.
Inparticular, “An Nam Dai quoc hoa do” (The Map of the Great Country of AnNam) made by Bishop Jean Louis Taberd and published in 1838 is said toreflect in-depth and precise knowledge of Western people about therelationship between Hoang Sa archipelago and Dai Viet, which the authorcalled An Nam Dai Quoc (The Great Country of An Nam) from the 15 th toearly 19 th centuries. The map affirmed that Cat Vang (Hoang Sa) isthe Paracels and is located within the waters of Vietnam .
“The Times Atlas of the World”, or the Atlas in short, includes a mapclearly named as “the map of the Dang Trong area” (the central part ofVietnam ). The territory of the Empire of An Nam (the former name ofVietnam ) is featured in four maps. A summary introduction about theEmpire of An Nam is attached besides the Hoang Sa archipelago in themap, affirming that the archipelago is part of the Dang Trong area,which belongs to the present-day Vietnam .
Mapsin the atlas demonstrate that China ’s southernmost boundary does notreach the 18 th parallel. All maps published by China up to thefirst decade of the 20 th century are also consistent with Westernmaps, and none of them depict China ’s southernmost territory beyondthe 18 th parallel. It stops at Hainan Islands .
Thus, Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoesis acquired by two means: the historical right deriving from thelong-lasting use and occupation of an ownerless territory under the timeof the Nguyen Lords from the 17 th to the 18 th century and thesovereignty formed from the official occupation and uninterruptedexercise of sovereign under the Nguyen Dynasty in the 19 th century.
Following the Nguyen Dynasty’s exercise ofsovereignty, during the period of French colonisation in Vietnam (fromthe late 19 th century to the first half of the 20 th century), in the1945-1975 period, and since national reunification in 1975, Vietnam hasalways maintained its exercise of sovereignty over Hoang Sa and TruongSa as well as its real management and exploitation of the archipelagoes.
The truth about the sovereignty claims of China :
Facing historical and legal evidence provided by Vietnam to prove hersovereignty over both Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes, severalChinese scholars and officials have quoted ancient documents in anattempt to prove their country’s discovery of the archipelagoes and theexercise of sovereignty there. They cited books such as “ Hou Han Shu”(Book of Later Han) and “ Yi Wu Zhi ” (Records of strange things) fromthe Han era and “ Zhu Fan Zhi ” (Notes on foreign countries) (the 13thcentury), “ Hai Lu ” (Oceanic records) by Yang Ping-nan (1820-1842),Nanzhou Yi wu zhi (Exotic things of the Southern region), Daoyi Zhilue(Overview of barbarous island countries), Guangdong Tongzhi (GeneralRecords of Guangdong province)… to prove that China discovered andexercised its sovereignty in Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes froman early date.
But in fact, the excerpts extracted from China’shistorical documents dating back before the 13 th century and cited byChinese scholars do not mention the name of any particular island, butonly the Nanhai. In addition, in those quoted pieces, the twoarchipelagoes were described only as physical landmarks observed bynavigators during their voyages crossing the East Sea . Only fromthe 13th century, the quoted pieces mentioned the name of some islands,but there were no such names as ‘Xi Sha’ and ‘Nan Sha’ (the names Chinagives to Hoang Sa and Truong Sa in Vietnam ).
Somelater historical sources described inspection, expeditionary andexploration trips China conducted in the region, including Hoang Saand Truong Sa. In particular, China argued that under the Ming dynastyin the 15 th century, explorer Zhenghe made seven journeys crossingthe East Sea and after that he put the name of the twoarchipelagoes on the map. However, those trips were not intended toclaim land. They in fact were meant to explore the sea to get a deeperunderstanding of its being, seek trade partners and show off force toregional countries. China cannot name any historical book thattestifies to its sovereignty over the two archipelagoes. Even in itshistorical documents in the 19 th century, when Vietnam ’s NguyenKings declared their ownership and exercise of sovereignty over Hoang Saand Truong Sa, the two archipelagoes were only described as things seenaccidently by Chinese ships on their journey passing the East Sea .
It was noticeable that China’s ancient documents, such asQiongzhou fu zhi (Geography of Qiongzhou), Guangdong sheng zhi(1731-Geography of Guangdong), Hoang Chao Yitong Yudi Zongtu (Chinesemap of the unified empire) in 1894.., all described and stated clearlythat China’s southernmost point was Hainan. In the Zhongguo Sihixue JiaoKeshu (Chinese Textbook of Geography), published in 1906, page 241reads “the southernmost point of China is the Jie Zhou coast, Qiongzhouisland, at 18 degrees 13 minutes north latitude”.
More thanthat, there are documents that implicitly acknowledge the link betweenthese archipelagoes and Vietnam , or even recognise these archipelagoesas the defence line of Vietnam . For example, Yang Ping Nan’s book“Hai Lu” (1820-1842) wrote “the external route is connected with theinner route by Van Ly Truong Sa which lies in the middle of the sea. Thearchipelago stretches tens of thousands of “dam” in length. It servesas a shield to defend the outer part of Annam .”
Chinahas many times cited the France-Qing agreement signed in 1887 toconfirm that Hoang Sa and Truong Sa belonged to them. However, theagreement did not regulate the demarcation of islands off the coast ofVietnam and China but mandated the boundary between Vietnam ’snorthern region and China .
Recently, China has quoted anumber of speeches and documents of Vietnam, in particular PrimeMinister Pham Van Dong’s diplomatic letter dated September 14, 1958addressed to the then Premier of China Zhou En Lai and argued thatVietnam had acknowledged China’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa archipelago.
In fact, the late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong’s diplomaticletter did not mention territorial and sovereignty issues relating toHoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes. It only acknowledged and approvedChina ’s expansion of its territorial sea to 12 nautical miles and atthe same time instructed Vietnamese agencies to respect the 12-nauticalmile limit declared by China . In addition, China knows only toowell that the issue of defining borders and territory between the twonations could not be handled via a diplomatic letter, it must go throughofficial negotiations by the two States and an agreement reached on theissue needs to be signed by representatives of the two States.
How did China occupy Hoang Sa and part of Hoang Sa?
Historical and legal evidence has proved Vietnam ’s undeniablesovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes. However, in 1956,China used force to occupy a cluster of islands called An Vinh ofHoang Sa archipelago. In 1974, it swallowed the entire archipelago. Andthey did not stop there; in 1988, China used force to take hold ofseveral reefs in Vietnam ’s Truong Sa archipelago. These are invasiveacts that seriously violated the sea and island sovereignty of theState of Vietnam and infringed the United Nations Charter andinternational law. They were not recognised by the internationalcommunity.
Vietnam has gone through a lot of wars duringwhich many Vietnamese laid down their lives for national independence,freedom and territorial integrity. In the face of the invadingactivities of China , her next-door neighbor, Vietnam has beenpursuing peaceful measures to request China respect Vietnam ’ssovereignty and territorial integrity in compliance with the spirit ofthe United Nations Charter as well as the 1982 UN Convention on the Lawof the Sea to which China is a signatory.
Vietnamresolutely and persistently defends the sacred sea and islandsovereignty over her Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes and stronglybelieves that justice will be enforced.-VNA
