Legal evidence of sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands.
On January 8th, the Da Nang Institute of Socio-Economic Research and the People's Committee of Hoang Sa Island District held a press conference to announce transparent legal evidence regarding Vietnam's sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa; these documents were published by China itself.
Mr. Tran Thang (a Vietnamese-American) has painstakingly collected hundreds of maps and documents proving Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos.
Among these is the 1919 Chinese Postal Atlas, published by the Ministry of Communications of the Republic of China in Nanjing. This was the first atlas published by the Chinese state, albeit in small quantities. The atlas shows the southernmost point of China extending only to Hainan Island.
With 150 maps, including 110 original maps and 40 reprints, comprising 80 maps printed by Western countries from 1626 to 1980 confirming that the southernmost territory of China is Hainan Island; 50 maps showing the Paracel and Spratly Islands adjacent to Vietnamese territory; 10 nautical maps showing the Paracel and Spratly Islands within Vietnam's territorial waters; and 10 general maps of Asia and Southeast Asia showing the Paracel and Spratly Islands within Vietnam's territorial waters. Three atlases were published in 1908, 1919, and 1933.
Dr. Tran Duc Anh Son, Deputy Director of the Institute for Economic and Social Development Research of Da Nang City, stated that throughout history, from maps dating back to the Qing Dynasty, to the Republic of China, and most recently, the fuel and energy reserve assessment map published by the relevant agency of the People's Republic of China (1980), none of them have shown that the Paracel and Spratly Islands belong to Chinese territory and sovereignty. On this map, China's maritime sovereignty boundary is clearly defined: it only extends to Hainan Island.
According to Mr. Tran Thang, the total cost for purchasing 3 atlases and 150 maps was approximately 13,000 USD, of which the People's Committee of Hoang Sa District (Da Nang) contributed 3,000 USD, Vietnamese expatriates in the US contributed 5,000 USD, and the remainder was voluntarily contributed by him.
According to (VNA) - LT
