Paracel Islands
Map
of the Paracel Islands
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Population: 1,440
(2014 est.)
note: Chinese activity has increased
in
recent years, particularly on Woody Island,
where the population exceeds 1,000; there
are scattered Chinese garrisons on
some
other islands.
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....
Chinese cultural
relics in the Paracel islands dating from the
Tang and Song dynasty eras indicate there is some
evidence of
Chinese habitation on the islands in these periods.
....
Ancient Vietnamese maps
record Bai Cát Vàng (Golden Sandbanks, as
claimed today by Vietnam referring to both
Paracel and Spratly
Islands).
1537
Portuguese sailor de Pinto names the islands as
the
Ilhas do Pracel.
1816
Vietnamese flag
planted in a formal ceremony on the Paracels.
1885
China restates its claim to the islands.
17 Oct
1887
Claimed by France as part of French
Indochina (see Vietnam).
1909 -
1910
China formally annexed the Paracel and Pratas Islands
to Guangdong
province.
1921
Canton authorities (i.e. the Guomindang government
under Sun
Yat-Sen) issued a decree to annex the Paracels under
the
management of the Hainan authorities.
1932
China protests French sovereignty claims over the
islands.
25 Jul
1933
Annexed to French Indochina (see Vietnam),
part of Ba Ria
province (not recognized by Republic of China).
1938
Japan sent a force to occupy Woody Island (Ile
Boisée).
Mar
1938
French ship Marne erected many markers of
sovereignty in the
archipelago.
4 Jul 1938
The Government of French Indochina
sends a force to officially
claim the Paracel Islands as part of Annam
Protectorate.
13 Jul 1938 - Aug 1945 Japanese
occupation.
31 Mar
1939
Japan declares Paracel Islands are part of Taiwan
province.
23 Apr
1939
Japan declares sovereignty over the Paracel
Islands.
Jul 1939
France annexes the Paracels and
incorporates them into Thua Thiên
province of Annam.
1941
Annexed by Japan, part of
Taiwan province.
18 Jan 1947
Claimed by Republic of China
(Xisha Islands), part of Guangdong
province.
7 Jul
1951
Claimed by South
Vietnam.
8 Sep
1951
Japan officially renounces sovereignty by
Treaty of San Francisco,
and confirmed on 28 Apr 1952 by
China-Japan Peace Treaty.
24 Mar 1953
China creates the 'Paracels,
Spratlys, and Zhongsha Islands
Authority' established as a county-level
administrative division
on Woody Island (named 4 Mar 1963 - 22 Oct 1981
Paracels,
Spratlys, and Zhongsha Islands Revolutionary
Committee) within
Guangdong (from 1984 Hainan).
22 Oct
1956
Formally annexed by South Vietnam,
part of Phuoc Tuy province.
15 Jun
1956
North Vietnam declares that the Xisha and Nansha
(Spratly) Islands are historically Chinese
territories.
13 Jul
1961
Placed under Quang Nam province by South Vietnam.
19 Jan
1974
Annexed by the People's Republic of China, part of Guangdong
province (as Xisha Islands)(from 13
Apr 1988, Hainan province);
South Vietnamese forces are expelled.
2 Jul
1976
Claimed by Vietnam (Hoang
Sa).
21 Jun 2012
National Assembly of Vietnam
passed a law demarcating Vietnamese
sea borders to include the Spratly and Paracel
Islands.
24 Jul
2012
China announced the establishment of the
prefecture-level city of
Sansha covering the Paracel and Spratly Islands.
18 Apr
2020
China approved the establishment of a municipal
district of Xisha,
in Sansha City, Hainan province covering Paracel
Islands.
Territorial Disputes: Occupied by China, but
claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.
Spratly Islands
Map
of the Spratly Islands
-----------------------------------------
Map
of competing claims
----------------------------------------
Map
of occupations
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Population: China
(about 450 soldiers); Malaysia (70-90); the
Philippines
(about 100); and Vietnam (about
1,500);
Brunei is a claimant but has no
outposts.
(no indigenous inhabitants)
note: there are scattered garrisons
occupied
by military personnel of several
claimant states.
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....
Ancient Vietnamese
maps record Bai Cát Vàng (Golden Sandbanks,
as
claimed today by Vietnam referring to both
Paracel and Spratly
Islands).
1211
Island group is first shown on a Chinese map.
1405
Visited by China (Nansha Qundao [Southern Islands]).
1530
Sighted by Portuguese explorer Alvarez de Diegoz.
1606
Claimed by Spain as part of the Philippines .
1791
Visited by British Capt. Henry Spratly discovers
Mischief Reef.
1710
Chinese Qing (Ch'ing) dynasty claims two northern
islands and
builds
a temple on North East Cay.
1798
British navy builds an iron observation tower on Itu
Aba.
1802
Claimed by Vietnam (Truong Sa [Long
Islands]).
29 Mar 1843
British whaling Capt. Richard
Spratly spotted what is now known as
Spratly Island and Ladd Reef.
1877
Captain James George Meads, master of the ship
"Modeste" reportedly
re-discovered the islands and claimed the archipelago
"on behalf
of the world's downtrodden and persecuted." Captain
Meads named
the island group the "Kingdom of Humanity" and the sea
that
surrounded it, the "Humanity Sea." Meads' ancestors
later claim
to have establish a kingdom on the islands.
1885
China restates its claim to the Southern Islands.
1887
Claimed by France as part of French Indochina (see Vietnam).
1893/97
Britain declares a
protectorate over the islands.
10 Dec
1898
Specifically excluded from Philippine territory by
Treaty of Paris.
13 Apr
1930
France occupies Spratly Island, île de la Tempête.
1932
China protests French sovereignty over the islands.
21 Dec
1933
Annexed by France to French Cochinchina (see Vietnam),
merging
Spratly Island, Amboyna Cay, Itu Aba Island, Northeast
Cay,
Southwest Cay, Loaita Island, Thitu Island and other
dependent
islands with Ba Ria province (not recognized
by Republic of
China).
1935
Republic of China announced a sovereignty claim on the
Spratly
Islands.
15 Jun
1938
Established as the administrative unit of Truong Sa
within Thua
Thien province by the Governor-general of French
Indo-China .
30 Mar
1939
Japan declares the Spratly Islands a protectorate.
Apr
1939
Japan occupies Spratly Island, named Nishitori jima.
5 May
1939
Divided into 2 agencies- Croissant and dependencies
and Amphirite
and dependencies- by Governor-general of French
Indo-China.
12 Dec 1939 - Aug 1945 Occupied by
Japan.
1941
Annexed by Japan, renamed
Shinnan Shoto (New Southern Islands), as
part of Taiwan province; Japan builds submarine base
on Itu Aba.
Jul
1946
Made part of Guangdong province by China. Spratly
Island renamed
Nanwei Island.
Nov/Dec
1946
Nationalist Republic of China forces establish a
garrison on Itu
Aba.
7 Jul
1951
Claimed by South
Vietnam.
8 Sep
1951
Japan officially renounces sovereignty by
Treaty of San Francisco
and confirmed on 28 Apr 1952 by China-Japan Peace
Treaty.
15 May
1956
Claimed by Philippine citizen Tomás Cloma (b. 1904 -
d. 1996) as
the new state of Kalayaan (Freedom Land).
15 Jun
1956
North Vietnam declares that the Nasha and Xisha
(Paracel)
Islands are historically Chinese territories.
22 Oct
1956
Formally annexed by South Vietnam,
part of Phuoc Tuy province.
8 Jun
1956
Taiwan takes Itu Aba (Taiping) island from
Philippines.
13 Jul
1961
Placed under Quang Nam province by South Vietnam.
1969 -
1971
U.S. radar station on Spratly Island.
10 Jul
1971
Claimed by the Philippines (from Apr 1972 incorporated
into Palawan
province).
29 Apr
1975
'Liberated' from Saigon regime by Provisional Republic
of South
Vietnam.
1 Jul
1976
Claimed by Vietnam (Truong
Sa), part of Khanh Hoa province.
1978
China occupies six atolls, taking them from Vietnam,
part of
Guangdong province (from 13 Apr 1988, Hainan
province).
11 Jun
1978
Philippines officially annexes the islands.
21 Dec
1979
Malaysia occupies Swallow Reef (Terumbu Layang);
Malaysia publishes
a map of its continental shelf that encompasses 12
Spratly
Island features as part of Sabah state.
1983
Malaysia claims Malaysia occupied Swallow Reef (Layang
Layang),
and Amboyna Cay as part of Sabah
state.
1984
Brunei establishes an exclusive fishing zone that
encompasses
Louisa Reef.
25 Feb
1992
Officially declared part of China by "Law on the
Territorial Sea
and the Contiguous Zone."
Feb
1995
China occupies Mischief Reef, Chinese fishing crews
later expelled
by Philippine forces on 20-28 Mar 1995.
4 Nov
2002
Claimants sign the "Declaration on the Conduct of
Parties in
the South China Sea."
21 Jun 2012
National Assembly of Vietnam passed a law
demarcating Vietnamese
sea borders to include the Spratly and Paracel
Islands.
24 Jul
2012
China announced the establishment of the
prefecture-level city of
Hainan named Sansha covering the Paracel and Spratly
Islands .
Jan
2013
Philippines formally initiated arbitration proceedings
against
China's claim on the territories within the "nine-dash
line" that
includes Spratly Islands, which it said is "unlawful"
under the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS).
12 Jul
2016
Tribunal of Permanent Court of Arbitration agreed
unanimously with
the Philippines. They concluded in the award that
there was no
evidence that China had historically exercised
exclusive control
over the waters or resources, hence there was "no
legal basis
for China to claim historic rights" over the nine-dash
line.
18 Apr 2020
China approved the establishment of the
municipal district of
Nansha, in Sansha City, Hainan province covering
Spratly
Islands.
Territorial Disputes: All of the Spratly
Islands are claimed by China (as Nansha Qundao),
Taiwan, and Vietnam (as Quan dao Truong Sa); parts of
them are claimed by Brunei, Malaysia (as Kepulauan
Spratly) and the Philippines (as Kapuluan ng
Kalayaan); despite no public territorial claim to
Louisa Reef, Brunei implicitly lays claim by including
it within the natural prolongation of its continental
shelf and basis for a seabed median with Vietnam;
claimants in Nov 2002 signed the "Declaration on the
Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea," which has
eased tensions, but falls short of a legally binding
"code of conduct"; in Mar 2005, the national oil
companies of China, the Philippines, and Vietnam
signed a joint accord to conduct marine seismic
activities in the Spratly Islands. China currently
occupies 7 areas (Cuarteron, Fiery Cross, Gaven,
Hughes, Johnson, Mischief, and Subi); Taiwan occupies
one (Itu Aba); and Vietnam occupies 21 areas (Alison,
Amboyan, Barque Canada, Central London, Cornwallis
South, East London, Da Gri-san, Da Hi Gen, Great
Discovery, Ladd, Landsdowne, Pearson, Petley, Sand,
Sin Cowe, South Reef, South West Cay, Spratly,
Tennent, and West London); parts of them are claimed
by Malaysia (which occupies 3- Ardasier, Mariveles and
Swallow Reefs); and the Philippines (which occupies 8
areas- Loaita, Nanshan, West York, Lamkian Cay, Thitu,
North East Cay, Flat, and Commodore Reef).
© Ben Cahoon
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