Sovereignty stele of Vietnam on Truong Sa island in 1961

The Geneva Accord signed in 1954 contemporarily divided Vietnam into two parts, namely the North and the South, with different political regimes. Accordingly, territories locating to the south of the 17^th parallel (including the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos) would be governed by the Republic of South Vietnam. Implementing the terms of the Accord, in 1956, the naval forces of the Saigon Administration took over the Hoang Sa and the Truong Sa archipelagoes when France withdrew its troops. Besides, a number of surveying, exploring and researching activities were also conducted by the government of South Vietnam on the two archipelagos. In the same year, with the assistance of the Saigon Administration’s naval forces, the Department of Mining, Technology, & Small Industries organized a survey on four islands, namely Hoang Sa (Pattle), Quang Anh (Money), Huu Nhat (Robert), and Duy Mong (Drumond), and conducted surveys on phosphates within the Hoang Sa archipelago.

In July 1973, the Institute of Agricultural Research under the Ministry of Agricultural Development & Land conducted its investigation and built a database on the Namyit Island within the Truong Sa archipelago.

From 1961 to 1963, the Saigon Administration built sovereignty steles on major islands within the Truong Sa archipelago such as Truong Sa (Spratly), Amboyna Cay (An Bang), the Southwest Cay, etc and carried out a number of international researches in serve for civilian livings on some islands.

In terms of state management, the Saigon Administration placed the Truong Sa archipelago under Phuoc Tuy province in 1956 and the Hoang Sa archipelago under Quang Nam province in 1961. The administrative commune of Dinh Hai, headed by an administrative envoy directly under Hoa Vang district, was established in the archipelago.

In 1974, when the military forces of the People’s Republic of China occupied the southwestern islands of the Hoang Sa archipelagoes, the Saigon administration both condemned actions violating Vietnam’s sovereignty and was active in the struggle in the international arena. On July 2, 1974, in a statement at the first session of the 3rd UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, held in Caracas, Venezuela, the Saigon administration strongly condemned the People’s Republic of China for having encroached upon the territorial integrity of Vietnam and restated that the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands were undeniably part of Vietnamese territory. The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, for its part, announced a 3- point stance concerning the settlement of the territorial disputes in a statement on January 26, 1974. Especially, in February, 1975, Sai Gon Administration issued its  White Paper on the Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos and got positive responses from the international community. It was stressed by Mrs Monique Chemillier Gendreau, Professor of International Law and Political Science at the University of Paris VII, Denis Diderot, France and the former president of the European Lawyers Association that: this occupation by force (of China) can not be grounded  for a right  (according to international law).

Taking over the sovereignty from the Republic of South Vietnam over  Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, Vietnam is the only  country that exercises its continuous, peaceful ownership and management over the two archipelagos in accordance with international laws.

Van Doanh