Thua Thien – Hue (VNA) – Vietnamese leading researchers gathered at a workshop in the central coastal province of Thua Thien – Hue on December 13 to present old documents issued by the Europeans, which are proof of Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago.
According to Dr. Tran Duc Anh Son, a well-known researcher in the field, French Navy sailor Jean Baptiste Chaigneau wrote in his memoir Le mesmoire sur la Cochinchine that Hoang Sa was an uninhabited island until Emperor Gia Long, the first King of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) declared sovereignty in 1816.
The Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Courts of Siam and Cochinchina by late diplomat John Crawfurd, published in 1830 in London, also includes lines saying that the emperor in 1816 took over the Paracel, which was then under no dispute over its sovereignty.
The book Die Erdkunde von Asien by Calt Ritter, published in Berlin in 1834, said the same, adding that neighbouring countries, including China, did not dispute the sovereignty declaration over Paracel by the emperor.
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