Hainan Province Paracels, Spratlys, and Zhongsha Islands Authority
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The Hainan Province Paracels, Spratlys, and Zhongsha Islands Authority (Chinese: 海南省西沙群岛、南沙群岛、中沙群岛办事处) or the Paracels' Authority (西沙办) is a county-level political subdivision of China under Hainan Province. It exercises political sovereignty, both actual and claimed, over three disputed archipelagoes in the South China Sea.
[edit] Subdivisions
The Authority is further subdivided into 3 towns at the township level (a 4th-level subdivision).
- the Paracels (Code: 469037)
Governed from the "Woody Island census-town"'s "Woody Island Neighborhood Committee". China effectively maintains control over all the features of the Spratlys.
- "Woody Island census-town" is further subdivided into North and South Villages at the village-level (two 5th-level subdivisions).
The Paracels are also claimed by the government of Vietnam, and is placed into the nominal Hoang Sa District of Da Nang city.
- the Zhongsha Islands (Code:469039)
- Governed from the "Zhongsha Islands and Reefs census-town"'s tentative (without an actual political representative) "Zhongsha Islands and Reefs Neighborhood Committee".
The Macclesfield Bank does not have stationed troops, however Scarborough Shoal (Philippine name: Panatag Shoal) further east (also claimed as a part of "Zhongsha Islands and Reefs census-town"), has Philippine troops, the shoal is administered by the Philippine province of Zambales.
- the Spratlys (Code: 469038)
- Governed from "Fiery Cross Reef census-town"'s tentative "Fiery Cross Reef Neighborhood Committee". It's area of actual control are James Shoal and the 8 reefs under the PRC's control.
The Republic of China (Taiwan) claims all of the features of the Spratlys. Having effective control over Itu Aba Island and 1 other reef. The features are administered together with the Pratas as part of Jhongsing Village, Cijin District, Kaohsiung Municipality.- The Socialist Republic of Vietnam maintains effective control over 6 islands, 17 reefs and 3 banks, while having claim over the entire Spratlys. The Spratlys are placed under the administration of Khanh Hoa Province's Truong Sa District.
- The Republic of the Philippines claims much of the northern and eastern features of the Spratlys, while maintaining effective control over 7 islands, 3 reefs and a vigilant degree of control over some other nearby features. They are included in the municipality of Kalayaan, Palawan.
Malaysia claims portions of the southern Spratlys, having de facto administration over 5 reefs, 1 shoal and an artificial island. They are placed within the state of Sabah (over which the Philippines has a dormant claim).
The State of Brunei, Abode of Peace hasn't laid any claim to any features of the Spratlys, however they do have an Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf extension over a maritime area that covers 3 features of the Spratlys that are claimed by other nations. These are the Malaysia-occupied Louisa Reef, Vietnam-occupied Rifleman Bank, and terra nullius Owen Shoal, they are within Brunei Fishery Limits' "Zone 4".[1]
[edit] Background
Given approval by the State Council on the 24 March 1953, the "Guangdong Province Paracels, Spratlys, and Zhongsha Islands Authority" was established as a county-level administrative division on Woody Island, the largest in area among the disputed South China Sea Islands. During the Cultural Revolution, when Revolutionary Committees were being set up across the country, it was upgraded to the "Guangdong Province Paracels, Spratlys, and Zhongsha Islands Revolutionary Committee" on the 4 March 1969. On the 22 October 1981 the original Authority was restored. Administration was transferred to Hainan on National Day, 1984, when the Hainan Administrative Region was established, followed by the establishment of Hainan Province on the 13 April 1988. On the 19 September 1988, it was officially changed to its present nomenclature --- "the Hainan Province Paracels, Spratlys, and Zhongsha Islands Authority". On the 25 December 2006, Woody Island census-town's first-ever Residents' and Fishers' Congress was held. 3 representatives at the township- and village-levels were selected to represent the census-town's Neighborhood Committee and the North and South Villages. The Neighborhood Committee began work on Woody Island the following day with an office at the Border Guards of the Paracels' Police Station. They are the first ever actual subdivisions within the county-level Paracels' Authority created.
Before the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea's (UNCLOS III) addendums to the Law of the Sea, the Central government had always maintained a staggering claim to nearly 3.5 million km2 in maritime area of the South China Sea, which equated to roughly one-third of China's total land area. The Central government claimed this as part of China's sovereign territorial waters, commonly known as "China's blue territories". It was delineated on maps by 9 or 10 dashed lines. Although many Chinese maps published after UNCLOS III still retain these dashed lines, they have no legal value and are used solely as a reference line to denote that "all features (islands, reefs, banks, shoals, cays, sands) located within the dashed lines are sovereign territory of the People's Republic of China". UNCLOS III, which has been ratified by China, went into force on the 16 November 1994. New baselines of the mainland and the Paracels were released on the 15 May 1996. The addendum for the EEZ's extension via Continental Shelves (in the legal sense) was also handed to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). Coupled with officially published laws of the past, China's new internal waters and territorial waters, namely, China's "blue territories", could thus be calculated to an area of approximately 31,000 km2.
[edit] Facilities
There is a coastal guard station located on Woody Island along with a police station nearby. The town's Residential Committee administers the islands from the same police station. In addition to collected rain water, the islands are resupplied by a freighter which hauls several tonnes of drinking water to Woody Island from Hainan Island. The guards maintain an acre of vegetable garden on the island. There is a common saying in China that travelling abroad is easy compared to a trip to the Paracels. Indeed, before the 1970's, the only means of transportation to and from the islands were by hiring fishers' boats, and even then only Woody Island was accessible, while the rest of the Paracels, the Zhongsha Islands and the Spratlys were only accessible to military personnel. The situation was improved in 1977 with the construction of a freighter given approval by then Premier Zhou Enlai. Having a tonnage of 2160 tonnes and a maximum load of 200 personnel, the "Qiongsha 1" (literally "Hainan-South China Sea Islands 1") freighter carried supplies and personnel to and fro between Woody Island and Hainan Island. In 1997, "Qiongsha 1" was destroyed in a typhoon while en route to Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province for routine maintenance and upkeep. A smaller "Qiongsha 2" freighter at 1410 tonnes and a load of 100 personnel was commissioned that same year. It operated for 10 years, being decommissioned in the January of 2007. As of 2008, the "lifeboat" of the islands is the "Qiongsha 3" freighter (Tonnage: 2500 tonnes; Load: 200 personnel; Payload: 750 tonnes in cargo; Length: 84 metres; Width: 13.8 metres). This is basically the only means of transportation to and from the islands for non-military personnel (mostly fishers and researchers). Its maiden voyage was on the 10 February 2007, and it has been making regular voyages between Wenchang's Qinglan Port on southeastern Hainan Island and Woody Island in the Paracels roughly every 20 days. A normal trip takes 13 to 15 hours, navigating between dangerous reefs and banks, through a distance of 186 nautical miles. Although all of the Paracels have been under China's control since the late 1970's, its strategic military position at the frontiers and its status as a disputed island with several claimants' military personnel nearby, have meant a low priority for the development of tourism. Nevertheless, since 2005, the provincial government of Hainan has instituted a small organising panel to investigate and discuss the possibility of opening up tourism to Woody Island and the rest of the Paracels.
[edit] Sansha
On the 19 November 2007, Sansha (Chinese: 三沙市) was reported by Mingpao, a Hong Kong-based newspaper, through a telephone interview with Mr. Zhang of the Propaganda Department of Wenchang, Hainan. It was said that this county-level city was to be established by the PRC State Council in November 2007 to administer three disputed archipelagos in the South China Sea[2]: the Paracel Islands, Zhongsha Islands and the Spratly Islands. This was to replace the county-level "Hainan Province Paracels, Spratlys, and Zhongsha Islands Authority". That the city of Wenchang would provide supplies and logistics to the to-be-established city. The article also stated that Wenchang's municipal party secretary Xie Wenzhang had announced a similar decision at the municipal congress on the 26 October. It was referred to simply as "City X". The article finally concluded with the possibility of the opening of tourism onto Woody Island as a next step. However, there has been no official announcement of such a decision from the Chinese government.
On the 3 December, Le Dung, the spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Vietnam protested this establishment, claiming that it is "in violation of the territorial sovereignty of Vietnam, not in conformity with common recognition by top state leaders of the two countries, [and] detrimental to the negotiations [that] seek a mutual basic, long-term measure for marine disputed issues."[3] In December of 2007, hundreds of Hanoi students protested Sansha's establishment. There were also protests in Ho Chi Minh City, London, Paris, Berlin, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Potential Fisheries Investment Areas, The Fisheries Department of the Government of Brunei Darussalam
- ^ "Vietnam, China: The Dispute over Significant Waterways", Free Intelligence Reports, Stratfor, 2007-12-04. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.
- ^ "Vietnam objects to China's establishment of San Sha city on the Hainan Island" at official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam [1] (English), [2] (Vietnamese)
[edit] External links
- Hainan Province Paracels, Spratlys, and Zhongsha Islands Authority
- Hainan Province Paracels, Spratlys, and Zhongsha Islands Authority Woody Island Census Town
- Subdivision Information of the Hainan Province Paracels, Spratlys, and Zhongsha Islands Authority
- Vietnam says China violates sovereignty with administration plan for disputed islands (Associated Press)
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