French press affirms Vietnam's sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa

The French press at that time not only introduced the natural geographical conditions of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa but also provided information affirming the sovereignty that “Hoang Sa and Truong Sa belong to Vietnam”. Typical examples are the articles published in the newspapers below:

On January 27, 1929, Henri Cucheroussset published his article titled: The Paracel Islands Question (La question des île Paracel). The article published two letters sent by readers to prove that Annam had long asserted its sovereignty over the Paracel Islands. This was recorded in valuable Vietnamese documents such as: Dai Viet Dia Du compiled in the 14th year of Minh Mang, volume 2, page 11.

It states: geographical location, types of creatures and seafood on the archipelago. The Nguyen Dynasty once established a "Hoang Sa team" consisting of 70 people from An Vinh village. Every year, some people in the team used small boats to patrol these islands for 6 months, at the same time collecting products and returning to the Phu Xuan court.

In the book Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi under King Duy Tan, volume 16, pages 18b and 19a, section "Hoang Sa Island", in addition to the same information as in Nam Viet Dia Du, Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi recorded that in the 16th year of Minh Mang, officials brought stones to the island to build pagodas and erected steles to commemorate the voyages to the island. In addition, the article also mentioned some documents of Dubois de Jaucigny and Jean Louis Taberd. These documents are stored at the French Institute of the Far East or the Indochina Archives.

Vietnamese people next to the sovereignty stele in Hoang Sa (Photo: Archive)

On February 3, 1929, L'Eveil économique de l'Indochine published an article Comparing the events that occurred in the Paracel Islands (Comparons aves ce qui s'est passé puor les les île Paracel). Taking advantage of an article in Avenir du Tonkin in the section Chez nos confrère (From our colleagues) about England recognizing Norway's sovereignty over Bouvet Island, the editorial board compared that event with the Paracel Islands and requested that Governor-General of Indochina Pasquier actively reclaim Annam's rights according to international law and national sovereignty.

On May 19, 1929, Henri Cucheroussset continued to publish the article The Paracel Islands Question (La question des île Paracel). The article included 5 photos of Boissée Island (Phu Lam) and Robert Island (Huu Nhat). At the beginning, the article raised the demand that the protectorate government immediately exercise Annam's sovereignty over the Paracel Islands. The article mentioned documents affirming Annam's sovereignty over the Paracel Islands, such as Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi, documents recording that the Annam court once sent people to the islands to erect steles, established a patrol team with people from Vinh An village to patrol around the islands every year and lasted for many years. The article mentioned the book Mémoise sur la Cochinechine by Jean Baptiste Chaigneau in 1920, which also affirmed that the territory of Cochinchina included the islands located on the coast and the Paracel Islands included small islands, reefs and large rocks without people living there. In addition, the article also talks about the economic importance of the Paracel Islands and the need to build lighthouses, radio stations and administrative management on the islands.

Following the series of articles on the Paracel Islands, on June 23, 1929, Henri Cucheroussset published the article The Rights of Annam over the Paracel Islands and the Responsibility of the Protectorate Government (Les droits de l'Annam sur le île Paracel et les devoirs du gouvernêmnt prrotecteur). The article emphasized the sovereignty of Annam over the Paracel Islands and called on the protectorate government to take responsibility for protecting the territorial integrity of Annam. The article focused on clarifying military benefits: seaplane bases, submarines; security: fighting piracy, building lighthouses to ensure safety for ships; economy: collecting taxes to exploit mineral resources on the island; meteorological research... Not only that, the article also translated from English an excerpt of Bishop Taberd's Memoirs published in the Bullentin de la Sociéte Asiatique du Bengalen in 1837-1838, which included a passage that said: In 1816, King Gia Long officially declared ownership of this archipelago and no one objected.

Article Annam's rights over the Paracel Islands and the responsibilities of the protectorate government (The rights of Annam over the Paracel Islands and the responsibilities of the protectorate government) (photo: Document)

On June 14, 1933, in the section Les Paracel. A.force de persévérance (The Paracel Islands: Effort and Perseverance), Henri Cucherousset published a letter from an important figure in Paris to him informing him that the Paracel Islands were still of interest to the Ministry of Colonies.12

In addition to the weekly newspaper Economic Awakening of Indochina (L'Eveil économique de l'Indochine), many French newspapers in Indochina also published articles related to Hoang Sa and Annam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago under French protection:

- Revue Indochinoise Illustrée, No. 38, 1929 (Saigon), PA La Picque cited many documents on Vietnam's sovereignty; especially the event when the Guangdong Government responded that it was not responsible for the Hainan people's robbery of the sunken ships Le Bellona in 1895 and Imezi Maru in 1896, on the grounds that Hoang Sa did not belong to China's sovereignty.

Memoir No. 3 du Service Océanographique de L'Indochine (Saigon), 1930, J. de Lacour & Jabouillé recount the survey trip to Hoang Sa on July 21, 1926 at the invitation of MAKrempf.

Avenir du Tonkin, No. 10495 (April 17, 1931), had an article affirming that in 1816, King Gia Long solemnly ordered the raising of the flag on the island. Therefore, even if in 1909 Guangdong wanted to claim sovereignty, the French Government had to speak up to confirm the right to protect those islands. In the current situation, no one can deny the strategic importance of Hoang Sa.

La Nature No. 29165 (November 1, 1933) had an article stating the responsibility of the French protectorate in Annam: The French government established their protectorate over Annam, and the islands of the Paracel archipelago belonged to Annam's territory, so France had the right to own and was responsible for taking care of this new territory.

La Géographie, Ministry of the Interior (December 11, 1933), A. Olivier Saix presented arguments according to which the French Protectorate in Vietnam must protect and maintain Vietnam's sovereignty because: Hoang Sa has a very necessary location to set up a lighthouse; It is the location to set up a meteorological observatory and a radio station to promptly report storms to ships; Hoang Sa has many economic resources: phosphate ore, fish, turtles,...; Hoang Sa's important military position: blockade of the Gulf of Tonkin, Da Nang port, international sea routes; History of establishing sovereignty: King Gia Long ordered the Hoang Sa fleet to land on the island to raise the flag and establish a base since 1816. Minister of Infantry Than Trong Hue said on March 3, 1925: "Those islands have always been the property of An Nam, there is no dispute in this matter".

According to Infonet