Hanoi hosts exhibition on Hoang Sa, Truong Sa

Hanoi (VNA) - An exhibition displaying maps and documents on Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos is underway at the Fisheries Resources Surveillance under the Directorate of Fisheries in Hanoi.

The event, from November 8-10, was co-organised by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

At the opening, Deputy Minister of the MIC Hoang Vinh Bao said the event is part of important activities to raise awareness of the country’s sea and islands among officers and workers in the agricultural and fishery sectors.

It is also designed to nurture people’s love for the nation and enhance their solidarity and responsibility, especially youths, in protecting Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos.

On display are documents, items, publications and nearly 100 maps published by domestic and international researchers and scholars, including materials in Chinese, Nom (old Vietnamese writing using Chinese characters), modern Vietnamese and French issued from the 17th to the 20th century by the Vietnamese feudal states and the French government in Indochina (on behalf of the then Vietnamese state) proving Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos as well as the country’s exercise of sovereignty over the islands.

The exhibition also features 65 maps certifying that the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos belong to Vietnam, published by Western nations and Vietnam since the 17th century.

The exhibition also showcases publications and studies by domestic and foreign scholars, including the atlas Universel compiled by Belgian geographer Philippe Vandermaelen in 1827.-VNA