Vietnam sovereignty is in danger!
Original Vietnamese version by Tran Binh Nam
English version by Le Khac Ly
On November 20, 2007, the government
of China endorsed a resolution to establish an administrative city at county
level named "Tam Sa", which consists of three archipelagoes of Hoang
Sa, Trung Sa (Macclesfield Bank, a submerged reefs of 6,250 square kilometers
located on the east and about 250 km from the center of Hoang Sa), and Truong
Sa, directly dependent on the province of Hai Nam. This province was
established in 1988 after it was separated from the province of Quang Dong.
Due to the sensibility of the subject, the resolution has not been publicly
released.
Hoang
Sa (Paracels) and Truong Sa (Spratleys) are located offshore of Vietnam.
The archipelagoes of Hoang Sa are situated between latitudes 16 and 17 north,
directly administered by the city of Da Nang and
the center of the archipelagoes is 350 kilometers away from Da Nang. The
archipelagoes of Truong Sa are much bigger, spread from latitudes 7 to 11
north, directly dependent on the province
of Khanh Hoa, and if observed from the
city of Nha Trang
facing South East, its center is 600 kilometers away from the Vietnamese shore.
During
French domination (from the mid 19th century to 1945), then successively during
the administration of the Tran Trong Kim cabinet, the government of the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the
government designated by Chief of State Bao Dai, these two archipelagoes were
under the jurisdiction of the governments of Vietnam and were undivided parts
of Vietnam. During their domination, the French set a meteorological station on
the biggest island of the archipelagoes of Hoang Sa. After the Geneva Accords
in 1954 to divide the country into two parts, the two archipelagoes of Hoang Sa
and Truong Sa, which are located below latitude 17; therefore belonged to the
Republic of (South) Vietnam. Warships of this government frequently went to
carry out re-supply missions to a military garrison unit at Hoang Sa, and always
conducted patrols to keep an eye on the cluster of islands around Truong Sa.
Back
in history, from the17th century, every year, the Nguyen Lords always sent
ships to Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, and created a naval unit called North Sea
Naval Unit whose mission was to protect those islands. A chronicle by the
Chinese Buddhist Monk Thich Dai San written in 1696 confirms those facts. In
his historical document written in 1776, the Vietnamese scholar Le Quy Don
described in details the archipelagoes of Hoang Sa.
The
sovereignty of Vietnam
over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa has been mentioned in all historical documents
written after the unification of the country by The Emperor of Gia Long (1802)
such as Du Dia Chi, Dai Nam Thuc Luc, Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi. .
There
were no western documents depicting Chinese sovereignty over Hoang Sa and
Truong Sa. Even in Chinese documents, written before 1909, none of them
mentioned that the two archipelagoes Hoang Sa and Truong Sa belong to China.
In
1958, the Chinese began a plan to invade Vietnamese land after Mao had solidly
established a communist regime in his century-long-intimidated-
by-western-influences country. On September 4, 1958, China published a
declaration saying that its territorial sea now is 12 nautical miles from shore
to ocean instead of 3 miles as previously established, with a map attached,
intentionally showing a boundary of its sea territory embracing Hoang Sa and
Truong Sa as they belong to China.
Ten
days later, on September 14, 1958, the Prime Minister of the government of North Vietnam, Pham Van Dong, signed a
diplomatic note recognizing the Chinese declaration of its new territorial sea
changing from 3 to 12 nautical miles, tacitly accepting that Hoang Sa and
Truong Sa belong to China.
Thanks to this diplomatic negligence (or intentionally, this still is a subject
to be debated), China
has developed plans to encroach little by little on Vietnamese land and sea
territories.
During this period of time, China
could not yet do anything with the two archipelagoes Hoang Sa and Truong Sa
since they were belonged to South Vietnam
according to the Geneva Accords of 1954, and South
Vietnam was an ally of the United States. It is noteworthy
that at the time, the US Seventh Fleet was a dominant power in the Pacific.
The
great opportunity arrived in the 1970s when the Vietnam War moved to the ending
phase. Hanoi was about to take over South Vietnam through the Paris Agreements,
which meant the Hanoi regime would eventually control Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.
The United States did not
want the Soviet Union, through the Hanoi
government, to use Hoang Sa and Truong Sa as observation stations watching all
activities in South Pacific, which could cause trouble for the waterway from
Indian Ocean crossing through the Malacca straits, up to the North-West
Pacific, a vital route for the US
fleets. It is also an oil supply route from the Middle-East to Japan, Taiwan,
and South Korea, the U.S. allies.
The US had settled it,
through a meeting in Beijing between Henry
Kissinger, the US Secretary
of State and Chu An Lai, the Chinese Prime Minister, by agreeing to let China occupy the archipelagoes of Hoang Sa,
blocking the path toward South Pacific of the USSR fleets. At this moment, the
relationship between Hanoi and Moscow
was smooth, while its relationship with China was at the low ebb.
Meanwhile, the US had just
established diplomatic relations with Beijing
and both saw the USSR
as a threat to the region. (See document "Bien Dong Day Song [East Sea
Blazes Up] no.118, www.tranbinhnam.com, Commentary pages).
In
the end of January 1974, as a result of that unwritten mutual agreement, the
Chinese Navy took over Hoang Sa, after a fierce naval battle with the South
Vietnam Navy. The US Seventh Fleet had been asked for help but neither
intervened nor rescued Vietnamese sailors drifting at sea. [The US
government made a good gesture by soliciting the Chinese to release the
prisoners captured at Hoang Sa within a month. Mr. Gerald Kosh, an American
working for DAO (Defense Attaché Office) at the US Embassy in Saigon
– also captured at Hoang Sa - was released with five wounded Vietnamese sailors
earlier on Jan. 31, 1974. Other 43 sailors and soldiers were released on
February 15, 1974.]
For
its part, Hanoi never raised its voice to
protest China's
invasion. Hanoi would believe that it was better
to let Hoang Sa to fall into the hands of a communist country than leaving it
in the hands of South
Vietnam.
After
the collapse of Soviet bloc in 1991, the reconciliation between Hanoi and China
had given the latter the momentum to begin gnawing land in the northern border
of Vietnam, and sea territory in the gulf of Tonkin, and particularly little by
little to swallow the archipelagoes of Truong Sa. In addition to its strategic
location in the region, archipelagoes of Truong Sa today also are a shelf of
ocean bed promisingly rich in oil and gas.
Hanoi
has shown its feeble spirit when facing the obvious invasion of China. The
unique weapon that Hanoi
is using up to this day is some perfunctory words of protest from its
Department of Foreign Affairs.
This
time, facing the resolution of the China
government to officially integrate Vietnamese territory into theirs, Hanoi again protests
weakly. During a press conference on December 5, 2007, Mr. Le Dung, the
spokesman of the Department of Foreign Affairs, said: "Vietnam has obtained complete historical
evidence and legal basis to affirm the sovereignty of Vietnam towards the two
archipelagoes of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. This act has violated the territorial
sovereignty of Vietnam,
not agreeable with general perception of the leaders of two countries, not
beneficial for the process of negotiation to seek for a fundamental and lasting
measure for the sea problems of two parties".
To
the act of China
appropriating Vietnamese territory brazenly and officially on papers, the
Vietnamese at home and abroad are extremely angry. They are waiting for Hanoi government to take
strong action to protect the national frontier, like the invasion-fighting
tradition of our ancestors.
It
is regrettable that until today, the Hanoi
government has not do anything except utter few words to confirm the
sovereignty of Vietnam
over the archipelagoes of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. When students of the
Technology College which is part of National University System of Hanoi
prepared a demonstration in front of the Chinese Embassy, university officials
obeying (communist) party authority issued a circular requesting students and
cadres of the school to be calm and not demonstrate, because that would
"not be beneficial for the process of negotiation to find fundamental and
long-lasting measure for sea problems of two parties."
Hanoi
government, however, could not prevent students from taking to the streets on
December 9, 2007 in both cities of Hanoi and Saigon to protest the Chinese invasion. But, in order to
avoid offending China,
when asked about the demonstrations, Le Dung said: "This is a spontaneous
act of the people, not authorized by the authorities. When it occurred, the
police were timely present to explain and to request fellow citizens to stop
doing that". Le Dung continued to explain Vietnam's point of view which is
"to have all conflicts solved peacefully through negotiations on legal
base and international reality." Hanoi
obviously did not do what needed to be done to protect the country.
If
the balance of naval forces between China
and Vietnam does not allow Vietnam to send warships to hoist national flags
on the archipelagoes of Truong Sa to confirm its sovereignty, at least as a
minimum, Hanoi
should convene the Chinese ambassador to the Department of Foreign Affairs to receive a protesting
diplomatic note. Hanoi may convene the people
Congress to pass a resolution confirming the sovereign rights of Vietnam
over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. Next, Hanoi should
take the issue to the UN Security Council with a dossier of complete historical
documents to prove the sovereignty of Vietnam over the two disputed
archipelagoes, then prepare a strong resolution to accuse Chinese invasion for
the Security Council to debate. In reality, the veto power of China will prevent the passage of the
resolution, but Vietnam may
get 9 of 15 votes of the Security Council reflecting the international opinion
in favor of Vietnam.
Those documents and the resolution submitted by Vietnam to the UN Security Council
will be used as a foundation for present government to mobilize people power to
protect Truong Sa, and for next generations to conduct the fight to reclaim the
archipelagoes of Truong Sa, and to nullify the Chinese integration of Truong
Sa. In addition, Hanoi should file a case to the
international court suing China
for the invasion and nullify the resolution of the Chinese National Affairs
Institution.
The
above are what a country with sovereignty should do in the defense of the
motherland.
What makes the leaders in Hanoi
stuck, and cannot do what they should do? The only reason that may explain
Hanoi behavior is that the Vietnamese communist party who is presently in power
in Vietnam is controlled by the Chinese government by a fifth column in the
highest leadership.
If that is true, Vietnam
is facing the greatest danger in its four thousand years history.
Original Vietnamese version written by:
Tran Binh Nam
Dec 12, 2007
binhnam@sbcglobal.net
www.tranbinhnam.com
English version prepared by:
Le Khac Ly
December 14, 2007
lekhacly@yahoo.com
Trần Bình Nam
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