Its Origion
China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and
their adjacent waters. It was the first to discover and name the
islands as the Nansha Islands and the first to exercise
sovereign jurisdiction over them. We have ample historical and
jurisprudential evidence to support this, and the international
community has long recognized it. During World War II, Japan
launched the war of aggression against China and occupied most
of China's territory, including the Nansha Islands. It was
explicitly provided in the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam
Proclamation and other international documents that all the
territories Japan had stolen from China should be restored to
China, and naturally, they included the Nansha Islands. In
December 1946, the then Chinese government sent senior officials
to the Nansha Islands for their recovery. A take-over ceremony
was held on the islands and a monument erected in commemoration
of it, and the troops were sent over on garrison duty. In 1952
the Japanese Government officially stated that it renounced all
its "right, title and claim to Taiwan, Penghu Islands as
well as Nansha and Xisha islands", thus formally returning
the Nansha Islands to China. All countries are very clear about
this part of historical background. As a matter of fact, the
United States recognized China's sovereignty over the Nansha
Islands in a series of subsequent international conferences and
international practice.
For quite a long period of time after WWII,
there had been no such a thing as the so-called issue of the
South China Sea. No country in the area surrounding the South
China Sea had challenged China's exercise of sovereignty over
the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters. Prior to 1975,
Vietnam had, in explicit terms, recognized China's territorial
integrity and sovereignty over the Nansha Islands. Before the
1970s, countries like the Philippines and Malaysia had never
referred to their territories as including the Nansha Islands in
any of their legal instruments or statements made by their
leaders. In the Treaty of Peace signed in Paris in 1898 and the
Treaty signed in Washington in 1900 between the United States
and Spain, the scope of the Philippines' territory was expressly
laid down, which did not include the Nansha Islands. This was
further confirmed in the Philippines Constitution of 1935
and the
Mutual Defense Treaty Between the Philippines and the United
States in 1951. As for Malaysia, it was only in December 1978
that it first marked part of the Nansha Islands, reefs and
waters into the territory of Malaysia in its published
continental shelf maps.
Moreover, the Nansha Islands are recognized
as China's territory by governments of quite a few countries and
by resolutions of international conferences. For example,
Resolution No. 24 adopted by the ICAO conference on Pacific
regional aviation held in Manila in 1955 requested the Taiwan
authorities of China to improve meteorological observation on
the Nansha Islands, and no representative at the conference made
objection to or reservation about it. In maps published in many
countries, the Nansha Islands are marked as China's territory.
For example, this is clearly done in Japan's Standard World
Atlas of 1952, which was recommended by the then Japanese
Foreign Minister Katsuo Okazaki in his own handwriting, the
World New Atlas published in Japan in 1962, which was
recommended by the then Foreign Minister Masayoshi Ohira , the
Welt-Atlas published in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1954,
the Penguin world atlas published in the United Kingdom in 1956,
and the Larousse atlas published in France in 1956. Vietnam
acknowledged the Nansha Islands as being China's territory in
its world maps published in 1960 and 1972 as well as its
textbooks published in 1974. The Nansha Islands are recognized
as China's territory in many countries' authoritative
encyclopedias published since the beginning of the 20th century,
such as the Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations in the United
States in 1963, the Bolshaya Sovietskaya Enciclopediya of 1973
and the Japanese Kyodo World Manual of 1979.
Beginning from the 1970s, countries like
Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia have by military means
occupied part of the islands and reefs of the Nansha Islands,
gone in for big-scale resource development in waters adjacent to
the Nansha Islands and laid claim to sovereignty over them. In
view of this, the Chinese Government has time and again made
solemn statements that these acts constitute serious
infringement upon China's sovereignty and territorial integrity,
and are illegal, null and void. The so-called legal basis
provided by those countries is not tenable at all.
Historical Evidence
To Support
China's
Sovereignty over Nansha Islands
China was the first to discover,
name, develop£conduct economic activities on and exercise
jurisdiction of the Nansha Islands.
A. China the First to Discover and Name the
Nansha Islands
The earliest discovery by the Chinese
people of the Nansha Islands can be traced back to as early as
the Han Dynasty. Yang Fu of the East Han Dynasty (23-220 A.D.)
made reference to the Nansha Islands in his book entitled Yiwu
Zhi (Records of Rarities) , which reads: "Zhanghai qitou,
shui qian er duo cishi"("There are islets, sand cays,
reefs and banks in the South China Sea, the water there is
shallow and filled with magnetic rocks or stones"). Chinese
people then called the South China Sea Zhanghai and all the
islands, reefs, shoals and isles in the South China Sea,
including the Nansha and Xisha Islands, Qitou.
General Kang Tai, one of the famous ancient
Chinese navigators of the East Wu State of the Three Kingdoms
Period (220-280AD), also mentioned the Nansha Islands in his
book entitled Funan Zhuan (or Journeys to and from Phnom) (the
name of an ancient state in today's Cambodia). He used the
following sentences in describing the islands: "In the
South China Sea, there are coral islands and reefs; below these
islands and reefs are rocks upon which the corals were
formed."
In numerous history and geography books
published in the Tang and Song Dynasties, the Nansha and Xisha
Islands were called Jiuruluo Islands, Shitang (literally meaning
atolls surrounding a lagoon), Changsha (literally meaning long
ranges of shoals), Qianli Shitang, Qianli Changsha, Wanli
Shitang, and Wanli Changsha among others. Reference was made to
the Nansha Islands in over one hundred categories of books
published in the four dynasties of Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing in
the name of Shitang or Changsha.
There were more detailed descriptions of
the geographical locations and specific positions of the various
islands of the Nansha Islands in the Yuan Dynasty. For instance,
Wang Dayuan, a prominent Chinese navigator in the Yuan Dynasty,
wrote about the Nansha Islands in his book entitled Abridged
Records of Islands and Barbarians in these words: "The base
of Wanli Shitang originates from Chaozhou. It is tortuous as a
long snake lying in the sea. Its veins can all be traced. One
such vein strentches to Java, one to Boni (or Burni, a kingdom
which then existed in what is now Brunei in the vicinity of the
Kalimantan) and Gulidimen (another kingdom on the Kalimantan),
and one to the west side of the sea toward Kunlun (Con Son
Islands, located outside the mouth of the mekong River some 200
nautical miles away from Saigon) in the distance¡." Wanli
Shitang here refers to all the islands in the South China Sea,
including the Nansha Islands.
In the Consolidated Map of Territories and
Geography and Capitals of Past Dynasties published in the Ming
Dynasty, we find the words "Shitang",
"Changsha" and "Shitang." Judging from the
geographical locations of these places as marked on the Map, the
second Shitang denotes today's Nansha Islands.
The Road Map of the Qing Dynasty marks the
specific locations of all the islands, reefs, shoals and isles
of the Nansha Islands where fishermen of China's Hainan Island
used to frequent, including 73 named places of the Nansha
Islands.
B. China the First to Develop the Nansha
Islands
Chinese people started to develop the
Nansha Islands and engage in fishing on the islands as early as
in the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, fishermen
from Haikou Port, Puqian Port, Qinglan Port and Wenchang County
went to the Nansha Islands to fish sea cucumber and other sea
produce.
The 1868 Guide to the South China Sea has
accounts of the activities of the Chinese fishermen in the
Nansha Islands. According to the Guide, "fishermen from
Hainan Island went to Zhenhe Isles and Reefs and lived on sea
cucumber and shells they got there. The footmarks of fishermen
could be found in every isle of the Nansha Islands and some of
the fishermen would even live there for a long period of time.
Every year, there were small boats departing from Hainan Island
for the Nansha Islands to exchange rice and other daily
necessities for sea cucumber and shells from the fishermen
there. The ships used to leave Hainan Island in December or
January every year and return when the southwesterly monsoon
started." Since the end of the Qing Dynasty, fishermen from
Hainan Island and Leizhou Peninsula of China have kept going for
fishing on the Nansha Islands. Most of the fishermen come from
Wenchang County and Qionghai County. One or two dozens of
fishing boats from these two counties would go to the Nansha
Islands every year.
The Road Map is another strong evidence to
the development of the islands on the South China Sea by the
Chinese people since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Road Map
served as a navigational guide to the Chinese fishermen for
their trips to the Xisha and Nansha Islands for productive
activities there. It was a result of the collective work of many
people on the basis of their navigational experience. The first
Road Map was produced in the Ming Dynasty and it was constantly
improved later on. It showed the navigational routes and courses
from Qinglan, Wenchang County, Hainan Island or Tanmen Port of
Qionghai County to the various isles of the Xisha and Nansha
Islands.
The development and productive activities
of the Chinese fishermen on the Nansha Islands after the
founding of the Republic of China in 1912 have been recorded in
both Chinese and foreign history books. Mr. Okura Unosuke of
Japan wrote about his expedition trip to Beizi Island in 1918 in
his book Stormy Islands, which reads: "he saw three people
from Haikou of Wenchang County when the expedition team he
organized arrived in Beizi Island." In 1933, Miyoshi and
Matuo of Japan saw two Chinese people on the Beizi Island and
three Chinese people on the Nanzi Island when they made an
investigation trip to the Nansha Islands. It is also recorded in
A Survey of the New South Islands published in Japan that
"fishermen planted sweet potato on Zhongye Island and that
fishermen from the Republic of China resided on the islands and
grew coconuts, papaya, sweet potato and vegetables there."
C. China the First to Exercise Jurisdiction
over the Nansha Islands
The Nansha Islands came under the
jurisdiction of China from the Yuan Dynasty. Geography Book of
the History of the Yuan Dynasty and Map of the Territory of the
Yuan Dynasty with Illustration both includes the Nansha Islands
within the domain of the Yuan Dynasty. The History of the Yuan
Dynasty has accounts of the patrol and inspection activities by
the navy on the Nansha Islands in the Yuan Dynasty.
The inscription on the Memorial Tablet of
the Tomb to General Qian Shicai of the Hainan Garrison Command
of the Ming Dynasty reads: "Guangdong is adjacent to the
grand South China Sea, and the territories beyond the Sea all
internally belong to the Ming State." "General Qian
led more than ten thousand soldiers and 50 huge ships to patrol
tens of thousands of li on the South China Sea." All these
descriptions clearly testify to the ownership by China of the
Nansha Islands in the Ming Dynasty. The Hainan Garrison Command
of the Ming Dynasty was responsible for inspecting and
patrolling as well as exercising jurisdiction over the Xisha,
Zhongsha and Nansha Islands.
In the Qing Dynasty, the Chinese Government
marked the Nansha Islands on the authoritative maps and
exercised administrative jurisdiction over these islands. The
Nansha Islands were marked as Chinese territory in many maps
drawn in the Qing Dynasty such as A Map of Administrative
Divisions of the Whole China of the 1724 Map of Provinces of the
Qing Dynasty, A Map of Administrative Divisions of the Whole
China of the 1755 Map of Provinces of the Imperial Qing Dynasty,
the 1767 Map of Unified China of the Great Qing for Ten Thousand
Years, the 1810 Topographical Map of Unified China of the Great
Qing for Ten Thousand Years and the 1817 Map of Unified China of
the Great Qing for Ten Thousand Years.
Between 1932 and 1935, the Chinese
Government set up a Committee for the Review of Maps of Lands
and Waters of China, which was composed of officials from the
Headquarters of the General Staff, the Ministry of Internal
Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Navy Command, the
Ministry of Education and the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs
Commission. This Committee examined and approved 132 names of
the islands in the South China Sea, all of which belonged to the
Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha Islands.
In 1933, France invaded and occupied 9 of
the Nansha Islands, including Taiping and Zhongye Islands. The
Chinese fishermen who lived and worked on the Nansha Islands
immediately made a firm resistance against the invasion and the
Chinese Government lodged a strong protest with the French
Government.
All the names of the islands, isles and
reefs on the South China Sea including the Nansha Islands were
unmistakably marked on the Map of the Islands in the South China
Sea compiled and printed by the Committee for the Review of Maps
of Lands and Waters of China in 1935.
In 1939, Japan invaded and occupied the
islands on the South China Sea. In line with the Cairo
Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, the Ministry of
Internal Affairs of China, in consultation with the Navy and the
government of Guangdong Province, appointed Xiao Ciyi and Mai
Yunyu Special Commissioner to the Xisha and Nansha Islands
respectively in 1946 to take over the two archipelagoes and
erect marks of sovereignty on the Islands.
In 1947, the Ministry of Internal Affairs
of China renamed 159 islands, reefs, islets and shoals on the
South China Sea, including the Nansha Islands. It subsequently
publicized all the names for administrative purposes.
In 1983, the Chinese Toponymy Committee was
authorized to publicize the approved names of the islands,
reefs, islets and shoals on the South China Sea.
In short, a host of historical facts have
proved that it was the Chinese people who were the first to
discover and develop the Nansha Islands and it was the Chinese
Government that has long exercised sovereignty and jurisdiction
over these islands. The Nansha Islands have become an
inalienable part of Chinese territory since ancient times.
Jurisprudential Evidence
To Support
China's
Sovereignty over the Nansha Islands
China has indisputable
sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and it has ample
jurisprudential evidence to support this.
A. Full and accurate historical data, both
Chinese and foreign, has provided rich and substantial evidence
to show that the Chinese people were the first to discover and
name the Nansha Islands. As early as in the Han Dynasty that was
more than two thousand years ago, the Chinese people discovered
the Nansha Islands through their navigational experience and in
the course of their productive activities over the years. All
this was amply recorded in the books such as Records of Rarities
by Yang Fu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Records of Rarities in
Southern Boundary by Wan Zhen of the Three Kingdoms Period and A
History of Phnom by General Kang Tai of the East Wu State. All
these historical records represent the Chinese people's
cognition and appreciation of the land on which they lived and
worked. They are of great importance in the perspective of
international law. In view of the development of international
law, these records and accounts of the discovery by the ancient
Chinese people of the islands on the South China Sea bear
abundant evidence to China's indisputable territorial
sovereignty over the Nansha Islands. Obviously, the Nansha
Islands are not land without owners, but rather they are an
inalienable part of Chinese territory. No country in the world
has the right to change China's legal status as the owner of the
Nansha Islands in any way.
B. The fact that the Chinese people have
developed the Nansha Islands and carried out productive
activities there and that the Chinese Government has actually
exercised jurisdiction over these islands has reinforced China's
sovereignty over the Nansha Islands. After discovering the
Nansha Islands, the Chinese people started to develop and engage
in fishing, planting and other productive activities on the
Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters from the Tang and Song
Dynasties at the latest. Fei Yuan of the Jin Dynasty (265-420
A.D.) wrote about the fishing and collecting of coral samples by
the fishermen of China on the South China Sea in his article
Chronicles of Guangzhou. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties,
fishermen from Wenchang County and Qionghai County of Hainan
Island used to sail southward with the northeasterly monsoon to
the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters for fishing every
winter and come back to Hainan with the southwesterly monsoon
before the typhoon season started. The Chinese people lived and
engaged in fishing, planting and other productive activities on
the Nansha Islands individually at first, but they were later on
organized with the approval and support of the Chinese
Government. Even when the conditions on the Nansha Islands were
not suitable for people to live, some of the Chinese fishermen
still lived on the islands for years. For ages, Chinese
fishermen would come and go between Hainan Island and Guangdong
Province on the one hand and the Nansha Islands on the other for
productive activities and they never failed to pay their taxes
and fees to the Chinese Government.
C. The exercise of jurisdiction by the
Chinese Government over the Nansha Islands is also manifested in
a series of continued effective government behavior. After
Emperor Zhenyuan of the Tang Dynasty (785-805AD) came to the
throne, China included the Nansha Islands into its
administrative map. It did so more conscientiously in the Ming
and Qing Dynasties. A wealth of official documents of the
Chinese Government, its local history books and official maps
have recorded the exercise of jurisdiction by the successive
governments of China over the Nansha Islands and recognized
these islands as Chinese territory. Up till the beginning of
this century, the Chinese Government had exercised peaceful
jurisdiction over the Nansha Islands without any disputes.
Since the beginning of this century, the
Chinese Government has undauntedly maintained China's
sovereignty over the Nansha Islands. In the 1930s, France once
invaded and occupied nine of the Nansha Islands, over which the
Chinese Government immediately made diplomatic representations
with the French Government and against which Chinese fishermen
staged an organized resistance. Between 1912 and 1949 when China
was a republic, the then Chinese Government took a series of
active measures to safeguard its sovereignty. For instance, it
furnished the Chinese fishermen and fishing boats that engaged
in the fishing on the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters
with China's national flags. It organized trips to the Nansha
Islands for a survey of their history and geography. And it
authorized a map-printing and toponymic agency to rename and
approve the names of all the islands on the South China Sea
including the Nansha Islands, individually and collectively.
During World War II, Japan invaded and
occupied China's Nansha Islands. China made unremitting efforts
for the recovery of these islands from the Japanese occupation.
In 1943, China, the United States and the United Kingdom
announced in the Cairo Declaration that all the territories that
Japan had stolen from China should be "restored to
China," including "Manchuria, Taiwan and the Penghu
Islands." At that time, Japan put the Nansha Islands under
the jurisdiction of Taiwan. The territories to be restored to
China as identified in the Cairo Declaration naturally included
the Nansha Islands. The 1945 Potsdam Proclamationconfirmed once
again that the stolen territories should be restored to China.
According to the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Proclamation,
China recovered the Nansha Island in 1946. At the same time it
went through a series of legal procedures and announced to the
whole world that China had resumed the exercise of sovereignty
over the Nansha Islands. Subsequently, the Chinese Government
held a take-over ceremony and sent troops to the islands on
garrison duty. An official map of the Nansha Islands was drawn
and printed, the Nansha Islands were renamed, collectively and
individually, and the earliest book of the physical geography of
the Nansha Islands was also compiled and printed.
After the founding of the People's Republic
of China, the Nansha Islands were incorporated into Guangdong
Province and Hainan Province successively and the Chinese Government has all along maintained China's sovereignty over the
Nansha Islands and taken effective actions for that.
In view of all this, the Chinese Government
has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands. Some
countries have claimed sovereignty of these islands on the
ground that these islands are within their continental shelves
or exclusive economic zones. According to international law and
the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, maritime rights and
interests should be based on territorial sovereignty for the
former derives from the latter. No country should be allowed to
extend its maritime jurisdiction to the territories of other
countries, still less should it be allowed to invade and occupy
other's territory on the ground of exclusive economic zones or
the continental shelves. All in all, any action by any country
with regard to the islets, islands or reefs of the Nansha
Islands, military or otherwise, constitutes encroachment of
China's territorial sovereignty. It is illegal and null and void
according to international law. It can in no way serve as a
basis for a country's territorial claim, nor can it change
China's indisputable legal status as having sovereignty over the
Nansha Islands.
Basic Stance and Policy of the Chinese
Government in Solving the South China Sea Issue
The Chinese
Government has always stood for negotiated settlement of
international disputes through peaceful means. In this spirit,
China has solved questions regarding territory and border with
some neighboring countries through bilateral consultations and
negotiations in an equitable, reasonable and amicable manner.
This position also applies to the Nansha Islands. China is
committed to working with the countries concerned for proper
settlement of the disputes related to the South China Sea
through peaceful negotiations in accordance with the
universally-recognized international law and the contemporary
law of the sea, including the fundamental principles and legal
regimes set forth in the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the
Sea (UNCLOS). This was explicitly written into the Joint
Statement issued at the China-ASEAN informal summit in 1997. The
Chinese Government has also put forward the proposition of
"shelving disputes and going in for joint
development". China is ready to shelve the disputes for the
time being and conduct cooperation with the countries concerned
pending settlement of the disputes. This is not only what China
stands for but also what China does. In Recent years, China has
on many occasions had consultations and exchanged views on the
question of the South China Sea with the countries concerned,
and a broad identity of views has been reached. The bilateral
consultation mechanisms between China and the Philippines, Viet
Nam and Malaysia respectively are in effective operation, and
positive progress has been made to varying degrees in the
dialogues. At China-ASEAN Senior Officials Meetings(SOM) and
China-ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conferences(PMC), too, the two
sides have had candid exchange of views on the South China Sea
question, and agreed to seek and appropriate solution to the
problem by peaceful means and through friendly consultations.
China maintains that all the parties
concerned should adopt a restrained, calm and constructive
approach on the question of the Nansha Islands. In recent years,
countries like Viet Nam and the Philippines have sent troops to
seize some uninhabited islands and reefs of the Nansha Islands,
destroyed the marks of sovereignty erected by China there, and
arrested, detained or driven away by force Chinese fishermen
fishing in the South China Sea. On this question, the Chinese
side has always persisted in having discussions and settling
relevant problems with the countries concerned through
diplomatic channels and by peaceful means. It fully testifies to
China's sincerity in preserving regional stability and the
overall interests of bilateral friendly relations.
China attaches great importance to the
safety and unimpededness of the international water lanes in the
South China Sea. Its efforts to safeguard its sovereignty over
the Nansha Islands and maritime rights and interests do not
affect the freedom of the passage foreign vessels and aircraft
enjoy in accordance with international law. In fact, China has
never interfered with the freedom of passage of foreign vessels
and aircraft in this area, nor will it ever do so in the future.
China is ready to work together with the littoral states of the
South China Sea to safeguard the safety the international water
lanes in the area of the South China Sea.
The question of the South China Sea is a
question between China and the relevant countries. The Chinese
Government has consistently advocated settlement of the disputes
between China and the countries concerned through amicable
bilateral consultations. Involvement by any external force is
undesirable and will only further complicate the situation.
China and the countries concerned are fully capable and
confident of handling their disputes appropriately. Peace and
tranquility in the South China Sea area can be maintained on a
long-term basis. At present, there is no crisis at all in that
area. The kind of tension in the South China Sea which has been
played up, even with ulterior motives, is contrary to the facts.
International Recognition Of China's
Sovereignty over the Nansha Islands
A. Many countries, world
public opinions and publications of other countries recognize
the Nansha Islands as Chinese territory.
1. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and
the Northern Island
a) China Sea Pilot compiled and printed by
the Hydrography Department of the Royal Navy of the United
Kingdom in 1912 has accounts of the activities of the Chinese
people on the Nansha Islands in a number of places.
b) The Far Eastern Economic Review (Hong
Kong) carried an article on Dec. 31 of 1973 which quotes the
British High Commissioner to Singapore as having said in 1970:
"Spratly Island (Nanwei Island in Chinese) was a Chinese
dependency, part of Kwangtung Province¡ and was returned to
China after the war. We can not find any indication of its
having been acquired by any other country and so can only
conclude it is still held by communist China."
2. France
a) Le Monde Colonial Illustre mentioned the
Nansha Islands in its September 1933 issue. According to that
issue, when a French gunboat named Malicieuse surveyed the
Nanwei Island of the Nansha Islands in 1930, they saw three
Chinese on the island and when France invaded nine of the Nansha
Islands by force in April 1933, they found all the people on the
islands were Chinese, with 7 Chinese on the Nanzi Reef, 5 on the
Zhongye Island, 4 on the Nanwei Island, thatched houses, water
wells and holy statues left by Chinese on the Nanyue Island and
a signboard with Chinese characters marking a grain storage on
the Taiping Island.
b) Atlas International Larousse published
in 1965 in France marks the Xisha, Nansha and Dongsha Islands by
their Chinese names and gives clear indication of their
ownership as China in brackets.
3) Japan
a) Yearbook of New China published in Japan
in 1966 describes the coastline of China as 11 thousand
kilometers long from Liaodong Peninsula in the north to the
Nansha Islands in the south, or 20 thousand kilometers if
including the coastlines of all the islands along its coast;
b) Yearbook of the World published in Japan
in 1972 says that Chinese territory includes not only the
mainland, but also Hainan Island, Taiwan, Penghu Islands as well
as the Dongsha, Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha Islands on the South
China Sea.
4. The United States
a) Columbia Lippincott World Toponymic
Dictionary published in the United States in 1961 states that
the Nansha Islands on the South China Sea are part of Guangdong
Province and belong to China.
b) The Worldmark Encyclopaedia of the
Nations published in the United States in 1963 says that the
islands of the People's Republic extend southward to include
those isles and coral reefs on the South China Sea at the north
latitude 4¡ã.
c) World Administrative Divisions
Encyclopaedia published in 1971 says that the People's Republic
has a number of archipelagoes, including Hainan Island near the
South China Sea, which is the largest, and a few others on the
South China Sea extending to as far as the north latitude 4¡ã,
such as the Dongsha, Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha Islands.
5. Viet Nam
a) Vice Foreign Minister Dung Van Khiem of
the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam received Mr. Li Zhimin,
charge d'affaires ad interim of the Chinese Embassy in Viet Nam
and told him that "according to Vietnamese data, the Xisha
and Nansha Islands are historically part of Chinese
territory." Mr. Le Doc, Acting Director of the Asian
Department of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, who was present
then, added that "judging from history, these islands were
already part of China at the time of the Song Dynasty."
b) Nhan Dan of Viet Nam reported in great
detail on September 6, 1958 the Chinese Government's Declaration
of September 4, 1958 that the breadth of the territorial sea of
the People's Republic of China should be 12 nautical miles and
that this provision should apply to all territories of the
People's Republic of China, including all islands on the South
China Sea. On September 14 the same year, Premier Pham Van Dong
of the Vietnamese Government solemnly stated in his note to
Premier Zhou Enlai that Viet Nam "recognizes and supports
the Declaration of the Government of the People's Republic of
China on China's territorial sea."
c) It is stated in the lesson The People's
Republic of China of a standard Vietnamese school textbook on
geography published in 1974 that the islands from the Nansha and
Xisha Islands to Hainan Island and Taiwan constitute a great
wall for the defense of the mainland of China.
B. The maps printed by other countries in
the world that mark the islands on the South China Sea as part
of Chinese territory include:
1. The Welt-Atlas published by the Federal
Republic of Germany in 1954, 1961 and 1970 respectively;
2. World Atlas published by the Soviet
Union in 1954 and 1967 respectively;
3. World Atlas published by Romania in
1957;
4. Oxford Australian Atlas and
Philips
Record Atlas published by Britain in 1957 and Encyclopaedia
Britannica World Atlas published by Britain in 1958;
5. World Atlas drawn and printed by the
mapping unit of the Headquarters of the General Staff of the
People's Army of Viet Nam in 1960;
6. Haack Welt Atlas published by German
Democratic in 1968;
7. Daily Telegraph World Atlas published by
Britain in 1968;
8. Atlas International Larousse published
by France in 1968 and 1969 respectively;
9. World Map Ordinary published by the
Institut Geographique National (IGN) of France in 1968;
10. World Atlas published by the Surveying
and Mapping Bureau of the Prime Minister's Office of Viet Nam in
1972; and
11. China Atlas published by Neibonsya of
Japan in 1973.
C. China's sovereignty over the Nansha
Islands is recognized in numerous international conferences.
1. The 1951 San Francisco Conference on
Peace Treaty called on Japan to give up the Xisha and Nansha
Islands. Andrei Gromyko, Head of the Delegation of the Soviet
Union to the Conference, pointed out in his statement that the
Xisha and Nansha Islands were an inalienable part of Chinese
territory. It is true that the San Francisco Peace Treaty failed
to unambiguously ask Japan to restore the Xisha and Nansha
Islands to China. But the Xisha, Nansha, Dongsha and Zhongsha
Islands that Japan was asked to abandun by the Peace Agreement
of San Francisco Conference were all clearly marked as Chinese
territory in the fifteenth map A Map of Southeast Asia of the
Standard World Atlas published by Japan in 1952, the second year
after the peace conference in San Francisco, which was
recommended by the then Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuo Okazaki
in his own handwriting.
2. The International Civil Aviation
Organization held its first conference on Asia-Pacific regional
aviation in Manila of the Philippines on 27 October 1955.
Sixteen countries or regions were represented at the conference,
including South Viet Nam and the Taiwan authorities, apart from
Australia, Canada, Chile, Dominica, Japan, the Laos, the
Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, the United
Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand and France. The Chief
Representative of the Philippines served as Chairman of the
conference and the Chief Representative of France its first Vice
Chairman. It was agreed at the conference that the Dongsha,
Xisha and Nansha Islands on the South China Sea were located at
the communication hub of the Pacific and therefore the
meteorological reports of these islands were vital to world
civil aviation service. In this context, the conference adopted
Resolution No. 24, asking China's Taiwan authorities to improve
meteorological observation on the Nansha Islands, four times a
day. When this resolution was put for voting, all the
representatives, including those of the Philippines and the
South Viet Nam, were for it. No representative at the conference
made any objection to or reservation about it.
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