BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Historical records have proved that the Nansha Islands and the Huangyan Island have never been Philippine territory.
The Philippine territories were defined by a series of treaties, including the 1898 Treaty of Paris and the 1900 Treaty of Washington between the United States and Spain, and a 1930 treaty between the United States and Britain.
The Nansha Islands and the Huangyan Island were not mentioned in any of the treaties. By the 1980s, the Philippine Constitution, in its description of the country's territories, followed the international treaties.
The Philippines began to covet islands in the South China Sea in the 1940s based on ridiculous claims that those islands and reefs were trust territory of the United States or simply terra nullius. Manila officially claimed sovereignty over several Chinese islands and reefs and illegally occupied eight more, including the Mahuan Island and the Siling Reef.
In 1978, Presidential Decree 1596 of the Philippines claimed that "these areas do not legally belong to any state or nation," but "by reason of history, indispensable need, and effective occupation and control" these islands "must now be needed to belong and subject to the sovereignty of the Philippines."
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