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Firm evidence proves
China’s
recent unilateral acts in the East Sea, particularly its illegal placement of
the Haiyang Shiyou-981 oil rig in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and
continental shelf, seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty and international
law, threatening peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation
in the East Sea.
To vindicate
its wrong actions,
In this
article, we provides readers with historical and legal evidence of
Legal historical evidence of
Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes
Due to many reasons, such as historical circumstances,
wars and poor preservation conditions, many historical documents relating to
The “Tuyen tap Thien Nam Tu Chi Lo Do Thu” (A Route Map
from the Capital in the Four Directions) drawn by Do Ba in the 17 th century
gave a very accurate description of the two archipelagoes and confirmed that
the Nguyen Lords established the Hoang Sa Flotilla to exploit Hoang Sa
islands in the 17 th century.
“During the last month of every winter, 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 of gold, silver, coins, guns and
ammunition. It took one day and a half to sail from Dai Chiem river mouth to
the islands, but only half a day from
The book also cites some writings from the third part
of the “Hong Duc Ban Do” (Hong Duc Maps) collection dating from the 15 th
century, which read, “In Kim Ho Village, there are two mountains on the two
banks of the river, each mountain has a gold mine run by the State. Offshore,
an archipelago with long sandbanks rise above the sea, called “Bai Cat Vang”
(Golden Sandbank), which is about 400 “li” (a unit of measurement used in
ancient Vietnam equivalent to about half a kilometre) in length and 20 “li”
in width, facing the coastline between Dai Chiem river mouth and that of Sa
Vinh. During the South-West monsoon season, foreign commercial ships sailing
along the coast of the sandbanks are often wrecked and run aground there;
many boats suffer the same fate during the North-East monsoon season. All
those who land on the islands after their ships sank starve to death and the
cargo piles up.”
The document indicated that
Hoang Sa and Truong Sa were also recorded in detail in
some ancient bibliographies, especially the official documents of the Nguyen
Dynasty. “Phu bien tap luc” (Miscellaneous Records of Pacification in the
Border Area), written by Le Quy Don in 1776, mentions Vietnam’s exercise of
sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes in the 18 th century.
“In Quang Ngai prefecture, offshore An Vinh commune,
Binh Son district, there is a mountainous island called Re, which is 30-“dam”
wide (dam-an old measurement unit in Vietnam, equivalent to half a
kilometre). It takes four “canh” (
“In the past, the Nguyen lords set up the Hoang Sa
Flotilla with 70 crew members who were selected among An Vinh villagers. They
took turn to sail to sea every March on five small boats, bringing along food
quota for six months. They used to reach the islands after a voyage of three
days and three nights. In addition, there was a Bac Hai detachment whose
members were recruited from Thu Chinh commune in Binh Thuan province or from
Canh Duong village. It was sent to Bac Hai areas, the
This document shows that the Hoang Sa and Bac Hai
detachments exploited the two archipelagoes from the 17 th to the late 18 th
century. Their activities were conducted systematically. The detachments
performed their tasks in the islands for eight months each year. Sailors were
recruited and paid by the royal court, and performed the tasks at the order of
the royal court.
Today, which is hundreds of years later, in the second
and third lunar months every year, people in Ly Son Island, central Quang
Ngai province, still maintain rituals in commemoration of Hoang Sa soldiers.
The annual “Le khao le the linh Hoang Sa” (Feast and Commemoration Festival
for Hoang Sa Soldiers) pays tribute to the men enlisted in the flotilla to
perform missions at the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos. They tapped the
area’s natural resources and defended national island sovereignty.
Activities organised by the Nguyen Lord to exploit
Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes and other islands were also recorded in
many other books 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 the
National Historiographer’s Office of the Nguyen Dynasty
· Official documents of the Nguyen Dynasty under the
reigns of King Minh Menh (1820-1840) and King Thieu Tri (1841-1847)
Many historical documents also record
In 1833, King Minh Menh ordered the planting of stone
steles, trees and 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 the eighth
month, during the autumn of the Year of the Snake, the 14 th year of the Minh
Menh reign (1833), the king issued an edict to the Ministry of Public Works
which read,” In the waters of Quang Ngai, there is the Hoang Sa strip. From a
distance, the sky and the sea there have the same colour, which makes it
difficult to estimate the depth of the sea. Recently, many trading boats had
gone aground there. Now you should prepare 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, it is easy for people to see them from afar, thus
avoiding running aground. This will benefit many generations”.
Volume No. 122 of the collection wrote, “In the Year of
the Horse, the 15 th year of the Minh Menh reign, the king ordered Captain
Truong Phuc Si and more than 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 of Public Works and ordered a Suat Doi (Commander) of the Navy,
Pham Huu Nhat, to command a fleet and bring ten wooden steles to be used as
markers 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 Minh Menh 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 survey purposes, arrived here and
therefore placed this sign.”
Under the Nguyen Dynasty (the 19 th century), the
measurement of sea routes and drawing of maps of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa
archipelagoes were conducted annually by the Ministry of Public Works. In
particular, in 1834, the Nguyen court, under the reign of King Minh Menh,
completed and officially announced a national map called “Dai Nam nhat thong
toan do” (The Complete Map of the Unified Dai Nam). The map featured
Before the Minh Menh reign, Hoang Sa and Truong Sa was
considered as a single archipelago called Hoang Sa or sometimes Van Ly Truong
Sa. However, after King Minh Menh sent working teams to survey and measure
the islands, 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 maps also indicated that Hoang Sa and Truong Sa belong to
Internationally recognised
historical and legal proof of
From the 16 th century, there were many publication and
maps drawn by Western navigators which depicted the archipelago in the middle
of the East Sea called “Pracel”, “Paracel” or “Paracels” as belonging to
Vietnam ’s sovereignty.
The “World Map” of Mercator, published in
Maps drawn by Bartholomeu Lasso in 1590 and between
1592-1594 which were published in the “Les Portugains sur les cotes du
Vietnam et du Campa” collection of P.Y.Manguim in Paris in 1972, and a famous
map drawn by Van Langren in 1598, which is included in the “Iconographie
Historique de l’Indochine” by P. Boudet and A. Masson, published in Paris in
1931, all show a stretch of coastline corresponding to the area from the Dai
Chien river mouth in Quang Nam province to Sa Ky river moutn in Quang Ngai
province, under the name of “Costa da Pracel” (the Coast of Paracel).
A map drawn by Jodocus Hondius in 1613 shows the
‘Pracel’ (Hoang Sa) archipelago as encompassing all islands of Vietnam from
the south of the Tonkin Gulf to the end of the country’s southern waters,
except for Pulo Condor (Con Dao) and Pulo Cici (Phu Quoc) which were drawn
separately.
In particular, “An Nam Dai quoc hoa do” (The Map of the
Great Country of An Nam) made by Bishop Jean Louis Taberd and published in
1838 is said to reflect in-depth and precise knowledge of Western people
about the relationship between Hoang Sa archipelago and Dai Viet, which the
author called An Nam Dai Quoc (The Great Country of An Nam) from the 15 th to
early 19 th centuries. The map affirmed that Cat Vang (Hoang Sa) is the
Paracels and is located within the waters of
“The Times Atlas of the World”, or the Atlas in short,
includes a map clearly named as “the map of the Dang Trong area” (the central
part of
Maps in the atlas demonstrate that
Thus, Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa
archipelagoes is acquired by two means: the historical right deriving from
the long-lasting use and occupation of an ownerless territory under the time
of the Nguyen Lords from the 17 th to the 18 th century and the sovereignty
formed from the official occupation and uninterrupted exercise of sovereign
under the Nguyen Dynasty in the 19 th century.
Following the Nguyen Dynasty’s exercise of sovereignty,
during the period of French colonisation in Vietnam (from the late 19 th
century to the first half of the 20 th century), in the 1945-1975 period, and
since national reunification in 1975, Vietnam has always maintained its
exercise of sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa as well as its real
management and exploitation of the archipelagoes.
The truth about the sovereignty
claims of
Facing historical and legal evidence provided by
Vietnam to prove her sovereignty over both Hoang Sa and Truong Sa
archipelagoes, several Chinese scholars and officials have quoted ancient
documents in an attempt to prove their country’s discovery of the
archipelagoes and the exercise of sovereignty there. They cited books such as
“ Hou Han Shu ”(Book of Later Han) and “ Yi Wu Zhi ” (Records of strange
things) from the Han era and “ Zhu Fan Zhi ” (Notes on foreign countries)
(the 13th century), “ 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 (General
Records of Guangdong province)… to prove that China discovered and exercised
its sovereignty in Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes from an early date.
But in fact, the excerpts extracted from
Some later historical sources described inspection,
expeditionary and exploration trips
It was noticeable that China’s ancient documents, such
as Qiongzhou fu zhi (Geography of Qiongzhou), Guangdong sheng zhi
(1731-Geography of Guangdong), Hoang Chao Yitong Yudi Zongtu (Chinese map of
the unified empire) in 1894.., all described and stated clearly that China’s
southernmost point was Hainan. In the Zhongguo Sihixue Jiao Keshu (Chinese
Textbook of Geography), published in 1906, page 241 reads “the southernmost
point of China is the Jie Zhou coast, Qiongzhou island, at 18 degrees 13
minutes north latitude”.
More than that, there are documents that implicitly
acknowledge the link between these archipelagoes and
Recently, China has quoted a number of speeches and
documents of Vietnam, in particular Prime Minister Pham Van Dong’s diplomatic
letter dated September 14, 1958 addressed to the then Premier of China Zhou
En Lai and argued that Vietnam had acknowledged China’s sovereignty over
Hoang Sa archipelago.
In fact, the late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong’s
diplomatic letter did not mention territorial and sovereignty issues relating
to Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes. It only acknowledged and approved
How did
Historical and legal evidence has proved
Source: VNA/VNN
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Chủ Nhật, 27 tháng 7, 2014
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