The authorities of Hoang Sa (Paracel) District of the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang have strongly opposed China’s illegal “setting up four people’s armed forces departments” in the Hoang Sa archipelago in the East Sea.

>> Vietnam demands China stop tourist activities on Hoang Sa The opposition was released by Vo Cong Chanh, chairman of the island district at a press conference held on Thursday, in response to the fact that the government of the Chinese province of Hainan on January 6 announced “the establishment of 4 people’s armed forces departments” in the Hoang Sa archipelago  and the organization of a military rehearsal on Phu Lam Island, part of the archipelago. “The Hoang Sa archipelago in the East Sea belongs to Vietnam’s sovereignty. On January 19, 1974, China used force to occupy the archipelago illegally. All activities by China on Hoang Sa are therefore unrighteous, violate Vietnam’s territorial sovereignty, and run against international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),” Chanh said. He emphasized that China’s recent unilateral acts on Hoang Sa and in the East Sea have posed serious threats to maritime and air security, safety and freedom in the sea area, and to maritime interests of other countries in the world. Those unilateral acts have also threatened the friendship relations, peace, stability and development in the region, Chanh added. “We strongly object to China’s illegal acts on Vietnam’s Hoang Sa archipelago as well as in the East Sea and demand that China stop such acts in the area in order to maintain peace, friendship and cooperation between the two countries and in the area,” the district leader said. Hoang Sa island district was established in January 1997. It is a coral archipelago about 170 nautical miles (approximately 315 km) east off the Da Nang coast. In July 2012, China illegally established the so called “Sansha city”, under Hainan Province, which covers Vietnam’s both Hoang Sa and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos in the East Sea despite strong protests from Vietnam and the international community. In response to this illegal act by China, on July 24, 2012, the then Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Luong Thanh Nghi said China’s establishment of the so-called Sansha city has seriously violated international law and Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, and is null and void. Nghi also said the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry on the same day sent a dispatch of protest to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly affirmed that Vietnam has full legal and historical evidence to prove its sovereignty over both Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos and the sovereign right and jurisdiction over the country’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in the East Sea in accordance with regulations in the UNCLOS.

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