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[By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

Recently, Vietnam has made quite a few public claims of sovereignty over China’s Xisha Islands. However, according to the Chinese government, the Xisha Islands have always been an integral part of China’s territory and are under no dispute. China perceives that the purpose of Vietnam’s move is to create a dispute where none exists. This article is to help clarify China’s position.

I. Xisha Islands Are an Inherent Part of China’s Territory

China was the first to discover, develop, exploit and exercise jurisdiction over the Xisha Islands. During the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1126 AD), the Chinese government had already established jurisdiction over the Xisha Islands and sent naval forces to patrol the waters. In 1909, Commander Li Zhun of the Guangdong naval force of the Qing Dynasty led a military inspection mission to the Xisha Islands and reasserted China’s sovereignty by hoisting the flag and firing a salvo on Yongxing Island, which is the biggest island in the Xisha Island chain. In 1911, the Chinese government announced its decision to put the Xisha Islands and their adjacent waters under the jurisdiction of Ya County of Hainan Island.

In accordance with the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation and the Japanese Instrument of Surrender issued during World War II, the Xisha Islands, which had been invaded and occupied by Japan in 1939, were legally returned to China. The Chinese government sent senior officials boarding military vessels to the Xisha Islands in November 1946 to hold the ceremony for receiving the islands, and a stone tablet was erected to commemorate the handover and troops were stationed there afterwards. The Xisha Islands were thus returned to the jurisdiction of the Chinese government.

In 1959, the Chinese government established the Administration Office for the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha Islands in the South China Sea. In January 1974, China exercised the right of self-defence enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations to drive the invading army of the Saigon authority of South Vietnam from the Shanhu Island and Ganquan Island of the Xisha Islands and defended China’s territory and sovereignty. The Chinese government enacted the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone in 1992 and published the base points and baselines of the territorial waters of the Xisha Islands in 1996, both of which reaffirm China’s sovereignty over the Xisha Islands and the extent of territorial waters of the islands.

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