National sovereignty is always in the mind of every person.
The struggle to maintain the sovereignty of the Fatherland's seas and islands must be at all times, in all places, and above all must be constantly present in the consciousness of every person.
Recently, Captain Vu Van Hiep accidentally discovered on a world map hanging in a discussion room of the New Zealand Command and General Staff College where he is studying, a particularly serious mistake regarding Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracel Islands. Specifically, under the Paracel Islands was written the word “China”, indicating that the sovereign country of the archipelago is China. He immediately sent an email to the principal and the person in charge of the school’s facilities.
In the letter, Captain Vu Van Hiep presented evidence clearly affirming Vietnam's legitimate sovereignty over the archipelago, while emphasizing that the error would cause viewers to misunderstand that the legitimate sovereignty over the archipelago belonged to China. After receiving no response from the first letter, he continued to write a second letter along with some evidence proving that the National Geographic Society of the United States - the publisher of the map - had also acknowledged the error and made corrections. Accepting Hiep's opinion, the leadership of the New Zealand Command and General Staff College ordered the map to be removed.
Exhibition of maps and documents "Hoang Sa, Truong Sa of Vietnam - Historical evidence" in Hanoi
It can be said that Captain Vu Van Hiep's action was very timely and sensitive, adding a voice to international friends to affirm Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago. This action shows that the military consciousness, love for the Fatherland, and awareness of the sovereignty of the sea and islands are always present in this border guard soldier. According to him, anyone who is Vietnamese would act like that. However, not everyone has enough knowledge and political sensitivity to detect such mistakes.
That is why there are incidents where, unintentionally and irresponsibly, we ourselves disseminate documents and materials that are incorrect about sovereignty, such as lanterns with the Chinese characters for Sansha printed on them being hung in many rural areas, and children's books with the Chinese flag printed on them...
Therefore, the struggle to maintain the sovereignty of the Fatherland's seas and islands must be at all times, in all places, and above all must be constantly present in the minds of every Vietnamese citizen.
How precious are the hearts and practical actions, the responsibility towards national sovereignty, towards the homeland's sea and islands. There are scholars, scientists who spend their whole lives researching, collecting evidence, legal documents affirming Vietnam's sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. There are students who go from the South to the North to meet witnesses, collect scientific evidence affirming the sovereignty of the Fatherland's sea and islands.
And there are many more acts of devotion to the sea and islands like that! The touching letters of many young teachers who volunteered to teach in Truong Sa; the brave fishermen who stuck to the sea, keeping the national flag from burning when a Chinese ship shot at their cabin while they were fishing in our country’s waters. The hearts of “contributing stones to build Truong Sa”, the songs and poems written about the homeland’s sea and islands… all have extremely great significance for the sea and islands, for Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.
Captain Vu Van Hiep's work is truly admirable! With just small actions, every Vietnamese citizen can add their voice and provide more evidence to help affirm the sacred sovereignty of the Fatherland's sea and islands./.
According to VOV - TH
