French journalist with a deep affection for Hoang Sa and Truong Sa

From August 8 to September 8, the Institute of Social Science Information organized an exhibition of new documents on Hoang Sa, Truong Sa, and the East Sea at 26 Ly Thuong Kiet, Hanoi, with many documents never before published.

The Indochina Economic Awakening newspaper published many articles affirming Vietnam's sovereignty over Hoang Sa - Photo: TN

When the French journalist and researcher Henri Cucherousset passed away in late 1934 in Hanoi, the newspaper L'Annam nouveau reported that the writer was scholar Nguyen Van Vinh. Mr. Vinh wrote about the person who had just passed away: "It was he who made the public aware of the inner aspects of the Hoang Sa archipelago issue. He was also the first person to make a claim to reclaim the sovereignty of Hoang Sa for our country."

In the article entitled A Revenue, which for mysterious reasons was missed, after stating the importance of the Paracel Islands in many aspects such as meteorological observation, seaport, airport, phosphate layer... Henri Cucherousset said that the government did not know how to exploit it to bring budget and economy to Indochina.

In the article Conquering the Phosphate Islands in the Spratly Islands, Cucherousset reported that the Indochina government sent ships to survey and research resources, especially phosphate, in the Spratly Islands, also to assert sovereignty. The author hopes that the government will continue to do so with the Paracel Islands without necessarily having to bring the case to the Hague court.

New collection of documents about Hoang Sa, Truong Sa, and the East Sea at 26 Ly Thuong Kiet, Hanoi

Many valuable documents affirm sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa

According to Professor Ho Si Quy, Henry Cucherousset was the creator of the weekly newspaper L'Eveil économique de l'Indochine. This newspaper, printed in Hanoi, published many articles related to our country's sovereignty over Hoang Sa. At the exhibition room of new documents on Hoang Sa, Truong Sa, and the East Sea organized by the Institute of Social Science Information, this weekly is displayed in its entirety. Excerpts related to sovereignty are translated into Vietnamese for easy reference. "The Institute is the place where this publication is most fully preserved," said Professor Quy.

Another French document is the Report sent to the Indochina Economic and Financial Council and presented to the Government Council in 1931, which mentioned the survey on May 16, 1931 on oceanographic, zoological, botanical and mineralogy research in the Paracels (Hoang Sa). The article reported the first studies conducted in the East Sea by the Institute of Oceanography, on the type of soil under the archipelago, on the morphology of coral islands, fish, birds, and the formation mechanism of phosphate in the soil throughout the Hoang Sa islands.

The diary of the journey to Hoang Sa was written by two authors, A.Pierre C. and Maurice C. in 1941. In it, there is a passage affirming that Hoang Sa is an archipelago belonging to the Kingdom of An Nam. This is a very dangerous rocky area, hundreds of miles away, where shipwrecks often occur. This archipelago stretches along the coast of Cochinchina, formerly known as Nam Nam. “I explain why today I have to propose that France equip Hoang Sa with a lighthouse, a radio station, allowing useful weather forecasts, announcing storms that may pass through here. And there is also a need for a native police station directly under the An Nam protectorate government”, a passage in the book clearly states.

Another notable book section is ancient Chinese documents from 1178 to 1951 written by Chinese historians about Chinese history through the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing dynasties, the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China. The content of these books does not mention the issue of Truong Sa. "In particular, a textbook on Chinese history published in 1950, reprinted in 1951 in Beijing for teaching Chinese workers, confirmed that the southernmost territory of China is Hainan Island and on the map of China's situation in this book, there is no mention of the place names Hoang Sa and Truong Sa", said Associate Professor, Dr. Le Thi Lan, Director of the Institute of Social Science Information.

According to Thanh Nien