China illegally grants residency permits in Vietnam's Paracel Islands.
China has just taken another step in violating Vietnam's sovereignty by brazenly holding a ceremony to issue the first batch of identity cards and residence permits to people in the so-called "Sansha City," which is in fact part of Vietnam's Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands.
The Paracel Islands belong to Vietnam. (Source: hoangsa.org)
According to People's Daily, the ceremony took place on July 17th on Phu Lam Island, part of the Paracel Islands, which China calls Yongxing and considers the capital of Sansha, a province established illegally.
This issuance included 10 identity cards for residents living here and 68 residence permits for transient individuals.
Deputy Mayor Phung Van Hai brazenly declared that after this distribution, they would accelerate the process, gradually moving towards distributing aid to other residential areas on Vietnam's Hoang Sa archipelago.
On July 17, representatives from the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs met with representatives from the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi to hand over a diplomatic note protesting the intimidation of Vietnamese fishing vessels and demanding compensation for the fishermen.
According to information from the authorities, on the morning of July 7, 2013, Chinese vessel number 306 pursued and threatened two fishing vessels, QNg 96787 TS and QNg 90153 TS, in the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands area of Vietnam. They boarded the vessels, overpowered, searched, and beat the fishermen, and vandalized and confiscated some property while the two vessels were engaged in normal fishing activities.
According to (Vietnam+) - LT
