Following the proposal of a Vietnamese trainee, the New Zealand Defense Force Command and Staff College has removed a map that wrongly depicts Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands as belonging to China.

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The NZDF Command and Staff College is located within Trentham Military Camp in Upper Hutt, approximately 40 kilometers from Wellington International Airport, New Zealand. The proposer is Vietnamese captain Vu Van Hiep, who is also a journalist at Bien Phong (Border Guard) Newspaper. Tuoi Tre recently interviewed Hiep who is now a trainee at the College, about this issue. Hiep told Tuoi Tre that three weeks ago, while looking at a world map hung at a classroom of the school, he discovered that the map wrongly showed the word “China” below the name “Paracel Island”. Finding that such an indication may cause viewers to think that China has sovereignty over the archipelago while in fact, based on scientific, legal and traditional evidence, the archipelago belongs to Vietnam, Hiep reported his finding to the school’s headmaster immediately.  In the email, Hiep affirmed that the Hoang Sa Islands belong to Vietnam’s sovereignty, so the showing of “China” below the name of the archipelago is wrong. The use of a map that contains such a wrong detail may lead to conflicts between students who belong to countries involving in the sovereignty dispute, Hiep wrote in the email. The school’s management later removed the map from the classroom.

Hiep also answered some other questions from Tuoi Tre.Q: Please provide some details about the origin of the map that shows the wrong detail? A: It is a large map published by the US National Geographic Society (NGS) in 2001. In March 2010, many people found the same wrong detail on an online map that was also issued by NGS.  After the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry objected to the wrong detail and reiterated Vietnam’s indisputable sovereignty of Hoang Sa (Paracel) based on legal and historical evidence, the NGS’s Map Policy Committee met to discuss the issue. They said they would apply a new naming convention for Hoang Sa. Specifically, for larger-scale regional, continental, and sectional maps, it would use the conventional name - Paracel Islands – and added: “Occupied by China in 1974, which calls them Xisha Qundao; claimed by Vietnam, which calls them Hoang Sa.” On small-scale world maps, it will use the conventional name of Paracel Islands and omit the possession label.Q: In your opinion, did the New Zealand Defense Force Command and Staff College use such a map unintentionally or intentionally? A: I can confirm that the school just used the map unintentionally. That is because they considered my opinion seriously and then agreed to my suggestion that such a map should not be used any more.Q: What is the reason for such a large and reputable military school to agree to the opinion of a foreign student like you? A: Because they respected the proposal of their students and wanted to avoid unnecessary disputes between trainees from countries involved in the archipelago dispute. Of course, I have included in my email a summary of scientific and historical evidence to prove Hoang Sa belongs to Vietnam. I also provided the school’s management with many maps of reputable organizations in the world together with links for reference. Among these maps is the one that notes below the name “Paracel Islands” as follows: “Administered by China – Claimed by Vietnam”.

I received no feedback from the school a week after I sent the email, so I sent them a second letter, in which I informed them that the NGS had announced detailed changes in naming conventions for the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands [as above-mentioned] following Vietnam's complaints.

I also re-emphasized the impacts that may be caused by the use of such a map and suggested the school review the issue seriously.

Q: Through this incident, what would you like to advise Vietnamese people who are studying, working or living abroad?

A: Currently, many kinds of maps containing similar errors can be still found in the world. As for maps issued by the NGS, this organization in March 2010 announced they would apply a new naming convention for Hoang Sa.

However, in fact, many maps posted by NGS on it websites still show “China” below the words “Paracel Islands”.

Therefore, Vietnamese people who are working, studying or living in foreign countries should be on high alert to maps with such wrong details so that they can detect them in time and convince organizations concerned to stop using maps that violate Vietnam’s sovereignty.