Paracel islands and Spratly islands belong to Vietnam: Exploration from historic documents and international laws

Abstract

The Paracel islands and Spratly islands have long been known by Vietnamese people. Vietnam’s sovereignty towards the two islands has been affirmed in maps both by Vietnamese and Western authors since the XVII century with the name of Golden Sandbank, Hoang Sa and Van ly Truong Sa… The two islands have also been noted in Vietnam’s history reference in the events occurred from XVI to XVIII. After invading the Indochina, the French colonist claimed sovereignty for the two islands to be the territory of Indochina – France. When the country was separated, Vietnam republic government administrated the two islands under international convention. After the national unification, Vietnam government declared the territorial sea, the marginal territory, the baseline and affirmed that the Paracel islands and Spratly islands are inseparable parts of Vietnam territory.