The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands and the Hoàng Sa Archipelago, are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea under de facto administration by the People's Republic of China since its defeat of South Vietnam in the 1974 Battle of the Paracel Islands. The word paracel is of Portuguese origin, meaning placer (a submerged bank or reef), and appears on 16th-century Portuguese maps. The archipelago includes about 130 small coral islands and reefs, most grouped into the northeastern Amphitrite Group or the western Crescent Group. They are distributed over a maritime area of around 15000 km2, with a land area of approximately 7.75 km2. The archipelago is located about 220 miles (350 km) southeast of Hainan Island, equidistant from the coastlines of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Vietnam, and approximately one-third of the way between central Vietnam and the northern Philippines. A feature of the Paracel Islands is Dragon Hole, the second deepest blue hole (underwater sinkhole) in the world. Sea turtles and seabirds are native to the islands, which have a hot and humid climate, abundant rainfall and may experience annual typhoons. The archipelago is surrounded by productive fishing grounds and a seabed containing potential, but still unexplored, oil and gas reserves.

Claims

The ownership of the islands remains hotly contested. The People's Republic of China (PRC) on mainland China, Vietnam, and the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan all claim de jure sovereignty, although the PRC has had de facto control of the archipelago since the Battle of the Paracel Islands in January 1974. In July 2012, China (PRC) established Sansha, Hainan Province, as administering the area. In February 2017, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative reported 20 outposts of the PRC built on reclaimed land in the Paracels, three of which contain small harbours capable of berthing naval and commercial ships.

Geography

Climate

Amphitrite group

The Amphitrite group was named after the French frigate Amphitrite, which observed the islands while carrying a Jesuit mission to Canton in 1698–1700. Lying in the northeast of the Paracel Islands at 16.88333°N, 112.28333°W, the group consists of low, narrow islands with sand cays and enclosed shallow lagoons connected by reefs of rock. It is about 37 km northwest of Lincoln Island. The group approximately forms an ellipse with a north–south axis of 22 km. The northern section of the group comprises West Sand, Tree Island and the Qilian Yu(七连屿) sub-group (The "Seven Sisters": North Island, Middle Island, South Island, North Sand, Middle Sand, South Sand and two small "sands".) The center of the group consists of Woody Island and Rocky Island, approximately 5 km south of the southern tip of the eastern extremity of the northern section. The southwest corner of the group is occupied by the Iltis Bank. The largest island of the Paracels, Woody Island (which has an area of 213 ha), has over 1,000 residents including fishermen and their families, military personnel and civilian administrators.

Crescent group

Lying about 70 km southwest of the Amphitrite group, at 16.5°N, 111.7°W, the Crescent group consists of islands and reefs that form a crescent-like structure from west to east, enclosing a deep central lagoon. The group measures 31 by east-west and north–south. All of the islands in the group support vegetation except on their small cays. The islands are named after former senior figures in the British East India Company (EIC). Three were members of the EIC's 'Select Committee' in Canton: James Drummond, Thomas Pattle and John William Roberts. Jonathan Duncan was Governor in Council of Bombay, and William Taylor Money was Superintendent of the Bombay Marine. Money Island lies at the southwest extremity of the group, and has some small cays on the southern side. The Chinese name for Money Island, Jin Yin Dao, is simply the translation of the English name. Antelope Reef, submerged at high tide and containing a central lagoon, lies 2.4 km east of Money Island. Northeast of this are Robert Island (also named Round Island) and Pattle Island, separated from each other by a 3.5 km wide deep channel. A weather station was built on Pattle Island (by the French) in 1932, and a lighthouse and radio station in 1937. Northeast of this is Quanfu Dao ("All Wealth Island"). Observation Bank, also named Silver Islet, and the Lesser Silver Islet, are the northernmost of the group and contain a small cay. Just south of them are Yagong Dao (He Duck) and Xianshe Yu (Salty Hut). At the eastern side of the group lies a 12 km long boomerang shaped reef with Stone Islet at its north end and Drummond Island at its south end. Near the centre of the reef is Dragon Hole the deepest known sinkhole in the world. The Duncan Islands (16.45°N, 111.71667°W ), consisting of Duncan Island and Palm Island, lie approximately 3 km west of Drummond Island and about 8 km east of Antelope Reef. Kuangzai Shazhou (Little Basket) lies about halfway between Palm Island and Antelope Reef.

Other features

Taking 16.66667°N, 112.33333°W as the center of the Paracel Islands, then the Amphitrite Group is ENE, and the Crescent Group is West.

Southeast

Eastern sub-group

Northeast

(ENE: Amphitrite group)

16.88333°N, 112.28333°W

Northwest

(West: Crescent group)

Inner southwest

Outer southwest

Central

List of entities

Satellite images

Etymology

Hoàng Sa (Vietnam)

The Vietnamese call the islands Hoang Sa, (黃沙 or Yellow Sands), and this name is found in historic Vietnamese documents dating back to 1483, included "An Nam quốc họa đồ" which was published in 1490. In the modern language system it is written as Hoàng Sa or Cát Vàng. They all have the same meaning — the Yellow Sands or the Yellow Sandbank. Before the early 19th century, the present-day Spratly Islands were treated as features of Hoàng Sa. It was not until the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng (1820–1841) that the Spratlys were distinctly delineated and officially named Vạn Lý Trường Sa (萬里長沙), the Ten-thousand League-long Sandbank.

Xisha and other Chinese names

The Chinese name Xisha (西沙), literally "western sands" or "shoals", is a name adopted in the 20th century to distinguish it from the "eastern sands" (Pratas; also Tungsha/Dongsha), the "southern sands" (the Nansha or Spratlys), and the "central sands" (the Zhongsha or Macclesfield Bank). Prior to that, there had been no consistent designation of these islands in early Chinese sources, with names such as Changsha, Shitang, Shichuang and others being used for Paracel and Spratly inconsistently. In the 14th century Song Dynasty work Zhu fan zhi by Zhao Rugua, the names Qianli Changsha (, lit. "Thousand mile-Long Sands") and Wanli Shichuang ( lit. "Ten-thousand mile-Rock Bed") were given, interpreted by some to refer to Paracel and Spratly respectively, but opinions differed. The Yuan dynasty work Daoyi Zhilüe by Wang Dayuan considers that Shitang (石塘) to be the same as Wanli Shitang (, lit. "Ten-thousand mile-Rock Embankment"), which starts from Chaozhou and extends to Borneo, west to Côn Sơn Island off Vietnam and down as far as Java. The History of Yuan uses the terms Qizhouyang (七洲洋, "The Ocean of Seven Islands") and Wanli Shitang, which are taken to mean Paracel and Spratly respectively. In the Mao Kun map from the Zheng He's voyage of the early 15th century, groups of islands were named as Shitang (石塘), Wansheng Shitangyu (萬生石塘嶼), and Shixing Shitang (石星石塘), with Shitang (sometimes including Wansheng Shitangyu) being taken by some to mean Paracel. Another Ming text, Haiyu (On the Sea), uses Wanli Shitang to refer to Paracel and Wanli Changsha for Spratly. During the Qing dynasty, a set of maps refer to Paracel as Qizhouyang (Shitang became Spratly, and Changsha became Zhongsha), while a book Hai Lu (Illustrations of the Sea) refers to Paracel as Changsha and Spratly as Shitang. A sea chart prepared in the Daoguang era, Yiban Lu (Particular Illustrations) by Zheng Guangzu, uses Xisha to refer to Paracel. Xisha became the standard name used in China in the 20th century, and was used in 20th century maps published by the Republic of China, for example in 1935, and the 1947 11-dash line map which claimed Paracel and Spratly as its territories.

Pracel and Paracel

The name 'Paracel' is found in the first Portuguese maps of the region. The Portuguese, whose vessels frequented the South China Sea as early as at the beginning of the 16th century, were the first to refer to these islands as 'Ilhas do Pracel' in the 16th century. Regarding the likely origin of the term Paracel, the word is a variant of the more common form pracel or parcel, from the, which was used by the Portuguese and Spanish navigators to designate shallow sandy seas or submerged banks, such as Placer de los Roques. "Pracel is a moderately elevated chain of islets, sandbanks, and reefs. These features are continuously distributed and stretched over a noticeable distance of tens or hundreds of kilometers in length. Pracel may not be a suitable place for human residents, but its irregular depth creates an ideal environment inhabited by fish. Pracel often forms a natural bulwark as an outer line of defense for a coast or a land." The Portuguese were later followed by the Dutch, the English, the Spanish, and the French in the waters of the island group. On the "Map of the coast of Tonquin and Cochinchina", made in 1747 by Pierre d'Hondt, the dangerous band of rugged rocks was labeled "Le Paracel", a French phonetic notation. Because of their location on an important seaborne route the Paracel Islands drew much attention from navigators and hydrographers in the Age of Exploration. Disputes in the area since the Second World War have again drawn attention to the islands. On the "Map of Europe, Africa and Asia" published in 1598 by Cornelis Claesz, an unnamed band of rocks and sandbanks are shown near the present-day location of the Paracel and Spratly Islands. About two decades later, the names Pracel and Costa de Pracel (Coast of Pracel) appeared on the Chart of Asia and eight city maps published in 1617 by Willem Jansz Blaeu, a Dutch map maker. The coast belonged to the Kingdom of Cauchi China. Due to confusion, the Spratly Islands at times were also referred to as the Paracels.

East India Company

The islands were first scientifically surveyed by Daniel Ross of the British East India Company in 1808. The names of Duncan, Drummond, Money, Pattle and Roberts islands were all chosen in honor of senior figures in the East India Company.

Infrastructure and natural resources

Infrastructure

China has historically had a presence in the islands and, as of 2016, was engaged in major infrastructure development to support its territorial claims over the archipelago, and as a result there has been, and continues to be, a lot of construction activity. In recent years Woody Island has acquired an upgraded airport, an upgraded sea port, and a city hall. There is a post office, hospital and a school on Woody Island.

Fresh water

There is limited supply of fresh water on the islands. In 2012, it was reported that China (PRC) planned to build a solar-energy-powered desalination plant on the islands. In 2016, it was reported that the first desalination plant was activated. This reduces the occupant's reliance on water supply coming in barrels by boat.

Electricity

Both wind and solar powered facilities exist, but most of the electricity is supplied by diesel generators. This led to considerations by the Chinese government to use floating nuclear power plants. It was reported in October 2020 that an experimental wave power generator was installed off Woody Island. On land, in August 2020, Millennium Energy Viêtnam Co., Ltd, a member of Millennium Petroleum Corporation announced plans to develop a 600 ha, US$15 billion LNG project in the south Vân Phong area of the Khánh Hòa province, i.e. Nha Trang, near by Cam Ranh, with capacity of 9,600 MW, project which include a dock warehouse system, may be terminals, to provide gas to the power plant as well as distribute LNG in South-East Asia, supplied presumably by the offshore gas deposit along the coast of Quảng Nam province, discovered by ExxonMobil in October 2011, at 200 nautical miles (roughly 370 km), amid the area disputed by China (PRC), surrounded the Paracel Islands, in Chinese maritime border sovereignty claimed by Beijing (refer to "Battle of the Paracel Islands"). Trung Nam Group also announced in early April 2021, a wind power 900 ha complex US$174 million with capacity of 423 GW/h/year, directly connected to the country's grid through Tháp Chàm 220 kV transformer station.

Communication

The Chinese postal zip code of the island is 572000, and the telephone area code is +86 (898). There is cellphone reception on the island.

Transport

There is an airport on Woody Island with a 2400 m long runway, which can handle take-offs and landings of Boeing-737s or planes of similar size. Flight services operate on the Haikou – Xisha route. There are three main roads on Woody Island as well as an 800 m long cement causeway that connects Woody Island and Rocky Island. Extensive port facilities have been constructed on Duncan Island.

Ecology and tourism

Paracel Islands' geographical and ecological traits are often likened as "China's Maldives", however, controversial conflicts between environment conservation and human activities including military operations, developments, and tourism on Paracel Islands have become public concerns in recent years. Local ecosystem include endangered fish such as whale sharks, oceanic birds, marine mammals (at least historically) such as blue whales, fin whales, and Chinese white dolphins, and marine reptile species such as critically endangered green sea turtles, hawksbill sea turtles, and Leatherback sea turtles; however, direct damaging of the ecosystem by military group and tourists has been documented. Governmental actions to cease illegal tourism are ongoing. The islands have been open for tourists since 1997. Chinese tourists can take a 20-hour ferry to the Islands, paying up to US$2,000 for a 5-day cruise, and are placed on a long waitlist before being accepted. The BBC article states that "Chinese tourism has strong political implications, as the Chinese tourists are being used as 'foot soldiers of China' by Beijing to further China's territorial claims there". The video also states "Vietnam is considered unlikely to send military vessels to stop them". There are two museums on Woody Island; a Naval Museum and a Maritime Museum. In April 2012, the Vice-Mayor and officials from the Haikou Municipal Government made several announcements about developing new docking facilities and hotels within the Crescent Group - on Duncan and Drummond Islands specifically. Promotion of the naturally unspoilt reef system was cited as the driver for new tourism potential with other such reefs, such as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, now placed under threat of extinction due to human activities. However, according to The China Post, this was denied by a PRC Government official in April 2012, due to sensitivities surrounding the islands.

Territorial disputes and their historical background

The nation states involved have differing historic perspectives as to sovereignty of the Paracel Islands with the Chinese claiming an interest since their discovery of the islands in the second century BC. A Vietnamese interest was crystallised in the view of one commentator by the planting of their flag in 1816. In 1836, the Vietnamese installed ten 5-meter steles with inscriptions that claimed the islands. Between 1881 and 1883 the German navy surveyed the islands continuously for three months each year without seeking the permission of either France or China. No protest was issued by either government and the German government published the results of the survey in 1885. After the 1884–1885 Sino-French War, in an international context, France officially gained control of Annam and Tonkin as protectorates and fully established French colonial rule in Vietnam by signing a number of treaties with the Chinese and Vietnamese governments including the Tientsin Accord, Treaty of Huế (1884) and Treaty of Tientsin (1885). Articles 2 of the Tientsin Accord in 1884 and Treaty of Tientsin stipulated that China was to give up any of their claims to suzerainty over all of Vietnam. In 1909 the Chinese reacted to Japanese interest in exploiting guano by mapping the islands and Chinese Navy occupation. In the 1910s and 20s, the French accepted Chinese sovereignty of the Paracels. Around 1930 the French authorities began to push for a claim on behalf of Annam based on the protectorate's activities in the seventeenth century but were skeptical because Annam had done little to uphold its past claims. In 1932, France formally claimed the Paracel Islands and in 1933 the Spratly Islands. Initially there seems to have been confusion in China at the time as the Paracel Islands were not recognised as a separate geographical entity and formal protests did not immediately follow. China and Japan both protested. In 1933, France seized the Paracels and Spratlys, announced their annexation, formally included them in French Indochina, and built a couple of weather stations on them, but did not disturb the numerous Chinese fishermen it found there. In 1939 Japan took control of the Paracel Islands, and administered them via Hainan then under its control. In 1941, the Japanese Empire made the Paracel Islands part of Taiwan, then under its rule. The Paracels and Spratlys were handed over to the Republic of China's control after the 1945 surrender of Japan, since the Allied powers had assigned the Republic of China to accept the Japanese surrender in the area. At the end of the war (Asian-Pacific Region), the ROC formally retook the Paracels, Spratlys, and other islands in the South China Sea in October and November 1946. In the Geneva accord of 1954 Japan formally renounced all of its claims to, inter alia, the South China Sea islands that it had occupied during World War II. After WW2 ended, the Republic of China was consistently the "most active claimant" of the islands. The ROC would go on to garrison Woody Island in the Paracels in 1946 and post Chinese flags and markers on it; France tried, but failed, to force ROC forces to leave Woody island. The aim of the ROC was to block the French claims. In December 1947, the ROC drew up a map showing its eleven-dotted line U-shaped claim to the entire South China Sea, including the Spratly and Paracel Islands as Chinese territory. After the communists gained control of China in 1949 after victory in the Chinese Civil War, they occupied Woody Island, the main island of the Amphitrite group and the only island that was still occupied by ROC forces at the time. Pattle Island in the Crescent group, on the other hand, was later taken by French Indochina and then would go on to be administered by South Vietnam following independence in 1956. Tensions over the islands have continued to rise unceasingly since then. However, China has had de facto control of the island and the rest of the archipelago since the Battle of the Paracel Islands in January 1974.

UNCLOS EEZ

The Paracel islands are claimed by both China and Vietnam and the majority of those islands lie within 200 NM of both China's and Vietnam's geographic baselines under the Law of the Sea.

Historical perspectives

In 1909, China sent an expedition to the islands, for the first time formally claiming them. In 1932 the colonial government of French Indochina annexed the islands and set up a weather station on Pattle Island in the Crescent Group. Imperial Japan established a military presence on the Paracel Islands during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese troops lived alongside French troops on Woody Island throughout much of that conflict. Japan, then at war with China, invaded the islands in 1939 on the pretext of their being a Chinese territory and placed them under the administration of Takao Prefecture in Japanese Taiwan in 1941. After the end of the war, in 1946, the Republic of China sent naval expeditions to the South China Sea and established a garrison on Woody Island. In 1947, Chinese troops occupied Woody Island, while the weather station on Prattle Island continued to be operated by French Indochina and later Vietnam. During the San Francisco Peace Conference of 1951, the San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed. The USSR motioned for the Paracels and the Spratly to be awarded to China, but the motion was rejected by a vote of 46 to 3, with one abstention. By 1955, South Vietnam had taken possession of the Crescent Group. In 1956, the PRC took control of and established a permanent presence on Woody Island, which (by then) was only seasonally inhabited by fishermen from Hainan. North Vietnam's Phạm Văn Đồng recognized Chinese sovereignty over the Paracels in 1958. North Vietnam recognised China's claims on the Paracels and Spratlys during the Vietnam War as it was being supported by China. Only after winning the war and conquering South Vietnam did North Vietnam retract its recognition and admitted it recognised them as part of China to receive aid from China in fighting the Americans. In June 1977 discussions with China's Li Xiannan during a time of rising tensions between China and Vietnam, Pham receded from this position, stating that the 1958 recognition of China's sovereignty over the Paracels was only made under the pressure of the United States of America's war against Vietnam. After the Battle of the Paracel Islands, in January 1974, the People's Republic of China expelled the South Vietnamese from the Crescent Group and took full control of the Paracels. South Vietnam's claim to the islands was inherited by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which has remained in-office since 1976. Initially in 1976, the Communist Party of Vietnam tried to persuade Beijing to acknowledge Vietnam's sovereignty over the Spratly Islands, offering in return to recognize China's claim over the Paracel Islands. However, when this effort failed, Vietnam's government, now under CPV control, asserted its claim over both archipelagos.

Vietnam

15th–17th centuries

1700–1799

1800–1899

China

618–1279

There are some Chinese cultural relics in the Paracel islands dating from the Tang and Song eras, and there is some evidence of Chinese habitation on the islands during these periods, though the relics are more likely washed ashore from shipwrecked junks. According to the Wujing Zongyao, a book published in the Northern Song dynasty in 1044, the Song government then included the Islands in the patrol areas of the Navy of the Court.

1279–1368

In 1279, the Yuan dynasty emperor sent the high-level official and astronomer, Guo Shoujing, to the South China Sea to survey and measure the islands and the surrounding sea area. Guo's base of survey was claimed by China to be located in the Paracel Islands, although this is considered unlikely by many Chinese scholars. His activities were recorded in the Yuan Shi, or History of Yuan. According to the Yuan Shi, the South China Sea islands were within the boundary of the Yuan dynasty. Maps published in the Yuan era invariably included the Changsha (the Paracels) and the Shitang (the Spratlys) within the domain of Yuan.

1368–1912

Relevant local annals and other historic materials of the Ming (1368–1644) and the Qing (1644–1912) dynasties continued to make reference to the South China Sea islands as China's territory. The Qiongzhou Prefecture (the highest administrative authority in Hainan), exercised jurisdiction over the Paracel and Spratly Islands in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the 19th century, Europeans found that Chinese fishermen from Hainan annually sojourned on the Paracel and Spratly Islands for part of the year. For three months each year between 1881 and 1884, the German Imperial Navy sent two boats (the ship Freya and the warship Iltis) to study and map the Paracel Islands without either seeking the permission of or incurring protest by the Chinese government. This mission was finished without any problems and the German Admiralty published the results in 1885 in a document called "Die Paracel-Inseln" (The Paracel Islands). In the period 1884 to 1885 the Tientsin Accord and Treaty of Tientsin were signed by Chinese representatives to attempt to address issues from an undeclared war between France acting on behalf of its protectorate territories in Vietnam and China. During this period between the treaties the Chinese did claim the Paracels. In 1909, Zhang Renjun, the Viceroy of Liangguang, ordered Guangdong Fleet Admiral Li Zhun (李準) to sail to the Paracel Islands. In June, with over 170 sailors in three warships named Fubo (伏波號), Guangjin (廣金號) and Shenhang (琛航號), he inspected 15 islands, erected stone tablets engraved with each island's name, raised China's flag and fired cannons to declare the islands "sacred territory of China", which France did not protest. In 1910, the Qing government decided to invite Chinese merchants to contract for the administration of the development affairs of the South China Sea islands, and demanded that officials shall provide protection and maintenance in order to highlight Chinese territory and protect its titles and interests.

1912–1950s

After the fall of the Qing dynasty, the new Government of Guangdong Province decided to place the Paracel Islands under the jurisdiction of the Ya Xian County of Hainan Prefecture in 1911. The Southern Military Government in 1921 reaffirmed the 1911 decision. China continued to exercise authority over the South China Sea islands by such means as granting licenses or contracts to private Chinese merchants for the development and exploitation of guano and other resources on those islands and protesting against foreign nations' claims, occupations, and other activities. For example, in May 1928, the Guangdong provincial government sent a naval vessel, the Hai-jui (海瑞號), with an investigation team organized by the provincial government and Sun Yat-Sen University to investigate and survey the islets, after which the investigation team produced a detailed Report of Surveys on the Paracel Islands. On July27, 1932, the Chinese Foreign Ministry instructed the Chinese Envoy to France to lodge a diplomatic protest to the French Foreign Ministry and to deny France's claims to the Paracel Islands. On November 30 of the same year, Zhu Zhaoshen, a high-level inspection official of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, issued public correspondence Number 66 to the French Consul in Guangzhou, reiterating that "it is absolutely beyond doubt that the Xisha [Paracel] Islands fall within the boundary of China". Despite repeated Chinese protests, French troops, who had colonized French Indochina in the 19th century, invaded and occupied the Paracel Islands on July 3, 1938. This took place shortly after the breakout of the Second Sino-Japanese War, when the armed forces of China and Japan were busy elsewhere. Three days later, on July 6, the Japanese Foreign Ministry also issued a declaration in protest of the French occupation "The statement of Great Britain and France made respectively in 1900 and 1921 already declared that the Xisha [Paracel] Islands were part of the Administrative Prefecture of Hainan Island. Therefore, the current claims made by An'nam or France to the Xisha Islands are totally unjustifiable." During the Second World War, the Japanese expelled the French troops and took over the islands in spite of the 1938 declarations. The Spratlys and the Paracels were conquered by Japan in 1939. Japan administered the Spratlys via Taiwan's jurisdiction and the Paracels via Hainan's jurisdiction. The Paracels and Spratlys were handed over to Republic of China control after the 1945 surrender of Japan, since the Allied powers had assigned the Republic of China to receive Japanese surrenders in that area. At the end of the war (Asian-Pacific Region), Nationalist China formally retook the Paracels, Spratlys and other islands in the South China Sea in October and November 1946. In the Geneva accord of 1954 Japan formally renounced all of its claims to, inter alia, the South China Sea islands which it had occupied during the World War II. After WW2 ended, the Republic of China was the "most active claimant". The Republic of China then garrisoned Woody Island in the Paracels in 1946 and posted Chinese flags and markers on it; France tried, but failed, to make them leave Woody island. The aim of the Republic of China was to block the French claims. In December 1947, the Republic of China drew up a map showing its eleven-dotted line U-shaped claim to the entire South China Sea, including the Spratly and Paracel Islands as Chinese territory.

20th-century events

21st-century events and land reclamation

In popular culture

United States FIPS country code

The United States FIPS 10-4 country code for the Paracel Islands is PF.

Citations

Sources