Geographical location of the Paracel archipelago

The Paracel archipelago locates to the north of the East Sea from 15⁰45’ to 17⁰15’ North and from 111⁰ to 113⁰ East, about 120 nautical miles from Ly Son island (Quang Ngai province) including 37 coral islands and reefs grouped into the northeast Amphitrite Group and the western Crescent Group. The Amphitrite Group consists of 12 islands and shoals with two biggest ones namely Woody island and Lincoln island, about 1.5 square kilometer each. The Crescent Group consists of Paracel (of about 1 square km), Drummond, Robert, Duncan, Triton islands, etc shaping a crescent.

Most of the islands are small (less than 1 square km) and not up to 10 meters height. Total area above sea surface is just about 10 square km. In the Amphitrite Group, the most important island is the Woody island (lying at 16⁰50,2’ North and 112⁰20’ East), with the length of 1,7 km and the width of 1,2 km.  Lincoln island (lying at 16⁰40,3 North and 112⁰20’ East) is about 8.5 meter above the sea and has fresh water all year round. Particularly, Paracel island, though not being a big one, holds the significance both for military and fishing activities. On the island, there used to be a Vietnam’s sovereignty stele, Ba temple, and a meteor station built by the French protectorate and the Nguyen dynasty. The station saw its operation since 1938 and was recognized and coded 48860 in the international meteor network by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Besides islands the archipelago is surrounded by sand cays and coral reefs making a big lagoon in the sea, of which the Golden Sand Cay is 30 km long and 10km wide.

The climate in the Paracel archipelago is rather complicated with changeable monsoon through out the year, due to the influence of the continental terrain of Vietnam and China. Temperature on the island ranges from 22⁰C to 24⁰C in January to its maximum of 29⁰C in June and July and then decrease gradually to 25⁰C in December. Its annual rainfall is low at about 120mm to 160mm, mainly in the summer. The Paracel has a diverse biology with species originating from coastal area of Vietnam. It has various scarce and valuable seafood resource such as lobster, holothurians, sea turtle, green sea turtle, and seaweeds etc.

For centuries, Vietnam has claimed and exercised its sovereignty over the Paracel archipelago without any disputes. Vietnam has exercised its peaceful and continuous management and sovereignty over the archipelago in accordance with international laws, especially the 1982 UNCLOS. However, in 1956 and 1974, China used its force to occupy the Paracel of Vietnam (under the management of Saigon government at that time). Now the Paracel is still under China’s illegal control. This is an illegal action, violating seriously the UN Charter and international laws.

Van Doanh