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The Paracel and Spratley Islands
Topic Started: Oct 18 2014, 07:48 AM (287 Views)
EnglishIrish
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Phạm Bình Minh
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Vietnamese Foreign Minister

Delegates,

I am here today to ask for your attention regarding the territorial disputes between China and Vietnam, regarding the Paracel and Spratley Islands. Recently, China has stepped up their bullish manner when defending their "supposed territories" in the South China Sea. I have been asked by the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, to argue to case for the Vietnamese re-occupation of these islands. We have documented evidence and factual historical evidence to argue a strong case for these islands. Vietnam utterly deplores the People's Republic of China's, continued occupation of the Paracel and Spratley Islands. We really hope that other members of the International Community can deplore this illegal occupation of territory.

In context, the Paracel and Spratly Islands have been subject to the sovereignty of Vietnam by reason of terra nullius, effectively occupied by Vietnam since the 16th century. According to international law, the discovery of a terra nullius itself does not sufficiently legitimise any legal status for the discovering State over that territory. To acquire sovereignty over the terra nullius, a State must effectively occupy that territory. There are two principles that govern this effective occupation. The first is the principle of actuality, which requires that the State actually possesses the terra nullius, considers it as part of the State’s territory, and exercises State authority and administration over it for a reasonable period of time. In addition to the material corpus element, the actual possession also requires the intentional animus element of whether a State wishes to possess the terra nullius. The second is the principle of publicity, which requires that the possession by a State must be announced to, or acknowledged by, other sovereign States.

To demonstrate its actual possession of the Paracel and Spratly Islands, Viet Nam asserts the following arguments. The State of Vietnam knew of the Paracel and Spratly Islands, we grouped them together, and named them as “Đại Trường Sa”, “Hoàng Sa” and “Vạn Lý Trường Sa”. These territories were considered as Vietnamese territory.

Throughout more than three hundred years, from the 16th to the 19th centuries, the State of Vietnam had continuously exercised their sovereignty at least over the Paracel Islands by frequently sending the Flotillas of Hoàng Sa and Bắc Hải to the archipelago, which would stay there for several months every year for surveying and exploiting resources in a systematic manner. Personnel from these flotillas collected goods from wrecked ships, built temples, planted trees to symbolise the State’s sovereignty, collected taxes, and provided assistance to foreign ships in danger. These activities of the Vietnamese States were totally free from any opposition or disputes from other countries, including China, and contained both the corpus and animus elements of an actual possession.

Vietnam has official documentation from the 17th century to support these arguments, official documentation includes the following:
-Đại Nam thực lục tiền biên (1600–1775)
-Toản tập Thiên Nam tứ chí lộ đồ thư (1630–1653)
-Phủ biên tạp lục (1776)
-Đại Nam thực lục chính biên (1848)
-Đại Nam nhất thống chí (1865–1882)
-Hoàng Việt dư địa chí (1833)
-Việt sử thông giám cương mục khảo lược (1876)

Jaseniew Vladimir and Stephanow Evginii, in their 1982 book entitled “The Chinese Frontiers: From Traditional Expansionism to Present Hegemonism”, listed the activities of the Vietnamese States in continuously exercising their sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands, and emphasized that “feudal States of Vietnam had for long annexed archipelagos such as the Paracels and Spratlys into their State’s territory”.

France, after imposing its protectorate over Vietnam, represented Vietnam in exercising and maintaining Viet Nam’s sovereignty over the archipelagos. In 1899, then Governor-General of Indochina Paul Doumer submitted a proposal to the Government of France to build a lighthouse in the Paracel Islands. Financial difficulty, however, prevented this plan from being realized. On March 8, 1925, the Governor-General of Indochina affirmed that the Paracel Islands were part of French territory. Surveillance and research trips thus had been organized in the Paracel Islands since 1925 and in the Spratly Islands since 1927.

In 1930, the French authorities in Indochina sent a mission group to set up a flag pole in the Spratly Islands. Since then until 1933, French naval units established a garrison on the main islands of the archipelago, including Spratly on April 13, 1930, Amboyna Cay on April 7, 1933 , Itu Aba on April 10, 1933 the Two-Island Group including Southwest and Northeast Cays on April 10, 1933, Loaita on April 11, 1933, and Thitu on April 12, 1933, together with small islets/cays surrounding these islands.

These occupation activities were proclaimed in the July 26, 1933 Official Gazette of the French Republic and the September 25, 1933 Official Gazette of Indochina, and did not meet any opposition from China, the Philippines, the Netherlands (which occupied Brunei at that time), or the United States of America. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland required explanation for these activities and was satisfied with the response from France. On December 2, 1933, the Governor of Cochinchina J. Krautheimer incorporated the Spratly Islands into the Province of Bà Rịa.

On March 30, 1938, Emperor Bảo Đại issued his imperial edict to incorporate the Paracel Islands into the Province of Thừa Thiên. On June 15, 1938, the Governor-General of Indochina Jules Brévié issued a decree on establishing an administrative unit in the Paracel Islands. The French authorities then effectively occupied the whole archipelago with a permanent guard unit. In 1938, a sovereignty stele was erected with the inscription of the words “The French Republic – The Kingdom of An Nam – The Paracel Islands, 1816 – Pattle Island – 1938”. A lighthouse, a meteorological station, and a radio station were also set up on Pattle Island.

We believe that the Paracel and Spratley islands are of Vietnamese Territory. This is just some of the evidence we have and we hope that the International Community will take this situation seriously and help Vietnam in condemning China.

Thank You
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EnglishIrish
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Vonar Roberts
Oct 22 2014, 02:52 AM
LIU Jieyi,
Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations
Mrs Powers,
You have deliberately ignored 1600 to 1800 years worth of Chinese use of the territories around the islands including the placement of territorial markers, diplomatic treaties who's border commissions recognized the islands as Chinese territory, and regular military patrols by Chinese vessels to make your case in favor of Vietnam. I should also point out that by your argument the United Kingdom should not have a exclusive economical zone around the Falklands Islands since they have a ongoing dispute with Argentina over the island yet they do.


A representative from our government was going to offer Vietnam a deal that would have resolved the Paracel and Spratley island dispute. However since Vietnam has decided to seek international condemnation of my country and turn this dispute into a public spectacle I do not believe that Hanoi is ready to negotiate in good faith with Beijing and take the matter of the Paracel and Spratley Islands seriously, and thus we have decided to postpone negotiations with Hanoi over the problem until they are ready to take the matter a little more seriously.
Pham Binh Minh
Vietnamese Foreign Minister

We wish to make it a public spectacle over the recent bullish methods that have been used to keep other citizens out of their so called legal maritime zones that the People's Republic of China enforces. The feeling in Hanoi is certainly mutual towards China. We do not feel that Beijing would be in good faith to negotiate either. These "negotiations" would be to fob us off and tell us to drop the situation. The Senaku Islands are also an ongoing issue that China fail to address.

We would like to thank the United States on supporting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on this issue.
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