an international problem that the countries of the region have not been able to resolve for several decades. The main opponents in this issue^the conflict over the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands - China and Vietnam. Each side has its own evidence base for making territorial claims regarding the ownership of both the islands themselves and the oil-and gas-rich bottom of the South China Sea. Nearby countries — the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and Indonesia-are also involved in the regional conflict, which also claim certain parts of the Spratly archipelago and have already raised their flags on some islands. The International Court of Justice and the relevant UN bodies, which have repeatedly examined the essence of the problem, pointed out with concern that these waters contain busy maritime routes and the main trade route from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean.

Keywords: Paracel Islands (Paracels), Spratly Archipelago, China, Vietnam, South China Sea.

The Paracel Islands (Xisha in Chinese cartography, Hoang Sa in Vietnamese) are located in the South China Sea, 200 km southeast of the Chinese island of Hainan and 300 km east of the coast of Vietnam. The archipelago consists of 15 islands, as well as reefs and shoals, located on the territory of 46 thousand square kilometers within a radius of 100 km. Its length from west to east is 180 km, and from north to south-170 km, the total area of the islands is about 3 square kilometers. On Vietnamese maps, the archipelago is considered as a single whole, while on Chinese maps it is divided into two groups of islands - Amphitrite and Croissant. Since 1974, the archipelago is controlled by the PRC, and the Republic of China (Taiwan) also claims its ownership. Vietnam administratively refers the islands to the provincial-level city of Da Nang, China-to the island-province of Hainan, Taiwan-to Kaohsiung.

On the issue of disputed jurisdiction over the Spratly Archipelago, Vietnam has found support from some ASEAN partners , primarily the Philippines. They support the convening of an international conference. China insists on bilateral talks. Back in 1951, Philippine Foreign Minister E. Quirino stated at a press conference that the Spratly Archipelago belongs to the Philippines, since it is located near the coast of this country [The Hoang Sa... and International Law, April 1988, p. 131]. This step provoked an immediate protest from the Chinese authorities, who condemned the "adventures of Philippine provocateurs and their American instigators" (Zhishi niantai, 1974, p. 38). In an interview with the Associated Press, the President of the Philippines

¹ Post-graduate student of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Theory and History of the RUDN University. ² Two archipelagos-the Paracels in the Gulf of Tonkin (about a hundred coral islands) and the Spratly Islands (about the same number) in the lower part of the South China Sea.

Benigno Aquino said on June 17, 2011 that he demanded that the PRC stop invading disputed areas, and warned that his country would not bow to the challenge. Members of the Philippine parliament believe that China is behaving like a "bully" and now call the South China Sea "West Philippine"³. Manila intends to control 25% of the archipelago, the part that lies around the island of Palawan. The authorities have repeatedly expressed their readiness to fight for national interests.⁴

Currently, China has military garrisons on 9 islands, Vietnam - on 21, the Philippines - on 8, Malaysia - on three. The most advantageous position, according to experts, is in Taiwan, which controls one, but the largest island-Itu-Aba, where the Japanese submarine base was located during World War II. The Taiwanese built an airfield on it.

Until the mid-1980s, the islands, which stretch for almost 600 km, were of interest to applicants only for their successful strategic position - control over the Spratly Islands made it possible to control (at least from the air) almost the entire water area of the South China Sea, with the exception of the Gulf of Thailand and Tonkin. The situation changed dramatically when, in the second half of the 1980s, some experts, based on geological survey data, suggested that the subsurface areas of the continental shelf adjacent to the islands contained the largest oil reserves in Asia.⁵

Until the end of the XIX century. China and Vietnam have repeatedly claimed their rights to the Paracel Islands, but they have not gone further than that. But already at the beginning of the 20th century, in response to the activity of France ⁶ and Japan, Beijing began to take steps to assert its presence in the disputed archipelago. So, in the period up to the 1930s, several Chinese military and research expeditions visited it. The French colonial administration in Vietnam also took measures to establish its presence on the islands of the South China Sea, and in July 1938, France declared its occupation of the entire Paracel Archipelago. However, a year later, the islands were under Japanese control and during World War II served as a springboard for its expansion into the countries of Southeast Asia. After the defeat and surrender of Japan, first the Kuomintang authorities in China, and then the French administration in Vietnam, sent their ships to this area. As a result, the archipelago was divided between China and France, while the Amphitrite group of islands became Chinese, and Croissant - Franco-Vietnamese territory. After Chiang Kai-shek and his remaining troops fled to Taiwan in May 1950, the Kuomintang army evacuated its troops from the Amphitrite Islands.

At a conference in San Francisco in 1951, the question of the South China Sea Islands was discussed, but it was not finally resolved. In the final document, it was recorded only that Japan renounces all property rights and claims to these territories. In the future, China (PRC) and Vietnam, in justifying their territorial claims to the disputed archipelagos, referred only to their previous statements, using the facts of the historical past as evidence.

³ Vietnam "Eastern".

⁴ The Philippine Government allocated an additional $ 184 million in 2011 to strengthen military positions in the area. Part of these funds went to the modernization of the airfield.

⁵ In 1988, China published the first estimates of oil and gas reserves, according to which the continental shelf of the Spratly Archipelago contained 105 billion barrels of oil. The Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that up to 213 billion barrels (about 30 billion tons) are concentrated in the center and south of the South China Sea, which is second only to the proven resources of two states-Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. As for gas reserves, they are estimated by experts at about 16 trillion cubic meters.

⁶ Vietnam was invaded by France between 1858 and 1884 and divided into the colony of Cochin Hin (Nambo), the protectorates of Annam (Chungbo) and Tonkin (Baekbo). In addition, the French Indochina colony included the protectorates of Cambodia and the protectorate of Laos, as well as the territory of Guangzhouvan leased from China. In fact, it existed until the mid-1950s.

Until the late 1950s, the conflict over the Paracel Islands did not enter an acute phase. Even China's deployment of military garrisons on the Amphitrite Islands in 1956 passed without clashes with the Vietnamese side. However, when in Februlemart 1959 Beijing made an attempt to occupy the Croissant Islands controlled by South Vietnam, but the operation failed for it. Later, during the US aggression in Vietnam (1965-1974) and the presence of American troops there, the PRC's activity in the South China Sea practically came to naught.

By the mid-1970s, the international situation had changed. On January 27, 1974, an agreement was signed in Paris to end the war and establish peace in Vietnam. After that, the withdrawal of American military contingents from South Vietnam began. The weakening of the South Vietnamese regime and the withdrawal of American troops allowed China to begin decisive actions in the Paracel Archipelago in order to put all the islands under its direct control on January 15, 1974. Chinese "fishermen" were sent to the Croissant Island group, who began to build outbuildings on this part of the archipelago and raised the national flag of the PRC on the islands of Robert, Mani, Duncan and Drumont as a sign of sovereignty over them. On January 16, 17, and 18, 1974, there were several minor incidents between ships of the Chinese and South Vietnamese navies. On January 19, the islands of Robert, Money and Pattle were shelled, and on January 20, the islands of Duncan was landed by a Chinese landing party. South Vietnamese garrisons were urgently evacuated from the Paracel Islands with the active support of ships of the US 7th Fleet, and among the 49 prisoners captured by the Chinese side was one American citizen. By the end of January 20, the entire archipelago was under the control of the PRC. The reaction of the international community, and especially of the world's leading Powers, was rather restrained. Hanoi generally declined to comment on past events.

Twenty years later, the question of ownership of the South China Sea Islands arose again, when in 1995, as a result of intergovernmental consultations between the PRC and Vietnam, held in Beijing, it was agreed that in the near future the parties would begin large-scale negotiations on the sovereignty of the disputed Spratly Islands and the prospects for joint development of their resources. In November 2002, an agreement was signed between China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan, according to which the decision on the status of the disputed Paracel Islands and the Spratly Archipelago was postponed until 2052, that is, for 50 years. In March 2005, the oil companies of China, Vietnam and the Philippines signed an agreement on joint exploration of hydrocarbon deposits on these islands. In the autumn of the same year (from October 31 to November 2), at the invitation of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nong Duc Man and President Tran Duc Luong of Vietnam, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China Hu Jintao paid an official friendly visit to Vietnam. The meeting resulted in the "China-Vietnam Joint Statement", which noted: "The parties highly appreciated the trilateral Agreement on joint ocean and seismological work in the South China Sea, signed in March this year by the oil companies of China, Vietnam and the Philippines, considering the signing of the agreement an important step in implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea.-The China Sea, with a positive impact on the promotion of joint development and stability of the situation, on strengthening good-neighborliness and mutual trust between the relevant countries " [Joint Statement..., 2005].

China summarized its claims to the South China Sea in a document by the Chinese Foreign Ministry titled " China's Undisputed Sovereignty over the Xisha and Nanning Islands." It was published on January 30, 1980 and distributed as an official document at the XXXV session of the UN General Assembly. In it, Beijing declares that the islands have been the territory of China since ancient times, and cites as justification-

Research Institute "numerous Chinese and foreign historical materials, documents, maps and cultural relics of ancient times and the present". The fact that these islands were "illegally occupied by foreign states for some time in recent history cannot in any way change the historical fact and the legal basis of their belonging to China." Thus, in the second century BC, during the time of Emperor Wu Di of the Han Dynasty, the Chinese began to sail in the South China Sea and consistently discovered islands there. Their geographical features are described by Wan Zhen in "Curious Information about the Southern Provinces" and Kang Tai in "Description of Funan" during the Three Kingdoms period (220-265).

Given the importance of the argument that these islands were used for economic purposes in justifying its territorial claims, Beijing draws on historical material, according to which after the discovery of the Xisha and Nansha Islands, groups of Chinese began to arrive there to develop local resources. Their voyages to these archipelagos and production activities there for more than 1,000 years are described in the Song Dynasty in "Dreamer's Notes" ⁷, in the Yuan Dynasty in "A Brief Description of the Islands" ⁸, in the Ming Dynasty in "Exploring the Oceans to the East and West" ⁹ and in " Navigable Winds"¹⁰, during the Qing Dynasty in the "Compass Readings" ¹¹ and "Notes on what was seen and heard in coastal areas" ¹², as well as in "Geng Liu Bu" - Reference Books of sea routes prepared by sailors of various generations.

In these written records, the archipelagos are not referred to as Xisha and Nansha, but as Jiuzhulozhou and Shitan, Qianlishitan and Wanlishitan, Changsha and Qianlichansha and Wanliqiansha. Numerous islands, reefs, sandbanks, and gullies were given the most general descriptive names by Chinese sailors and merchants. Based on this, Vietnamese historians consider the material presented by the PRC unconvincing, since on its basis it is impossible to draw an unambiguous conclusion that we are talking about the islands included in the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos.

To confirm that the Chinese have long lived in the archipelagos and were engaged in fishing and other industrial activities there, historians of the PRC cite references to the ruins of living quarters found on the Paracel Islands, clay and porcelain dishes, iron knives, iron kitchen utensils and other everyday items dating back to the Tang and Song dynasties. In 1995, archaeology Professor Wang Hengjie found Chinese ceramics made more than 2,000 years ago during the Qin and Han dynasties in the Paracel Islands, and the professor concluded that "from ancient times to the present, our people have carried out continuous, continuous and extensive activities in the South China Sea" [Jiefang Zhibao, 20.03.1995]. Chinese coins dating back to the reign of the Tang Emperor Xuanzong (847-859) have been found on the islands (Mingbao yuekan, 1974, p.19). Wells, places of worship, tombs and other relics from the Ming and Qing dynasties were discovered.

Vietnamese historians note, however, that at that time, for many centuries, the Chinese authorities pursued a policy of "maritime prohibition", which implied the strictest restrictions on the unauthorized access of subjects of the Chinese emperors to the open sea, which could not contribute to the widespread economic activity of the Chinese on the islands of the South China Sea. Undoubtedly, the Chinese visited

⁷ "Mengliang lu".

⁸ "Tao And Zhilius".

⁹ "Dong Si Yang Kao".

¹⁰ "Shunfeng Xiang Song".

¹¹ "Zhinan Zhengfa".

¹² "Hai Guo Wen Jian Lu".

these islands, but for their large-scale economic development, they, in the opinion of the Vietnamese side, had no opportunities. Vietnam puts forward its own counterarguments, according to which the Paracel Islands were well known to Vietnamese fishermen, who freely arranged their night stops there. There were also some Vietnamese expeditions here. However, it should be recognized that up to the XX century. neither the Chinese nor the Vietnamese established permanent settlements and did not try to settle the deserted islands. The buildings - piers, sheds, sheds, and similar places of worship - were temporary in nature. In one way or another, the islands were uninhabited in the past.

Challenging Beijing's attempts to justify its rights in the South China Sea, its Vietnamese opponents note that from the point of view of modern international law, the very fact of "discovery" of the islands is not decisive, emphasizing that the Vietnamese, Malays, Persians, and Arabs "discovered" them in this way. In addition, they put forward the following argument: if we are talking about private individuals-representatives of a particular people, then their discovery of islands and use for their own interests does not entail the acquisition of sovereign rights to additional territories by their countries.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, even during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), the imperial court "exercised jurisdiction" over the Paracel Islands closest to the mainland, sending warships to patrol them. As a historical justification, the "Review of Military Affairs"¹³ is used [The indisputable sovereignty of China..., 1980, p. 4]. It states that the court "ordered imperial forces to conduct patrols, as well as build barracks for naval patrols" in Guangnan, ¹⁴ "authorized the construction of keeled naval warships", which, "sailing in a south-westerly direction from Tongmenshan, with a favorable easterly wind, can reach Jiuzhulozhou ¹⁵ in seven days." The following is a description of routes leading to various countries of Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. It is not clear from this text that the purpose of the expeditions was precisely to patrol the Paracel Islands.

In addition, according to Chinese documents, the mentioned patrols were not systematic [Ibid.]. Chinese historiographers cite as another notable event in this series an episode that took place in 1710-1712, when the vice admiral of the Guangdong Fleet, Wu Sheng, during an inspection campaign of three thousand li, left Qiongya and proceeded to Tung, Qizhouyang and Xigengsha. The Chinese called Qizhouyan the area of the sea surrounding the Paracel Islands. Vietnamese historians point out that the vice admiral's route did not take place near the Paracelae, since Qiongya, Tung Gu, and Yigengsha are located on the coast of Hainan Island, and Qizhouyang is a maritime zone located between the coast of Hainan and a group of seven islands northeast of Hainan. This follows from maps published in the PRC, for example, the Topographic Map of Nanhai, published by the Chinese Cartographic Publishing House in May 1984. In fact, the route ran only around the island of Hainan.

The third and final episode of the" patrol around the Xisha Archipelago", which is referred to by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, is associated with the campaign of Admiral Li Zhong in 1909. However, this episode, during which there was a brief landing of Chinese troops on some islands of the archipelago, the Vietnamese call" violation of sovereignty", which was allegedly established by that time over the territory of the between them and Vietnam.

¹³ "Wu Jing Jun Yao".

¹⁴ The current Guangdong Province.

¹⁵ Paracel Islands.

¹⁶ Morse of the seven islands.

Given that the Paracels lie in the path of Chinese ships heading to the South Sea countries, such ships inevitably passed by them. For example, according to Chinese sources, the Buddhist monk Fa-hsien visited ^the islands in the fifth century, returning from a trip to India [Mingbao yuekan, 1974, p. 3]. The Mongol army of Kublai Khan passed through this part of the sea, heading for the conquest of Java, as did the ships of the Zheng He expeditions during the campaigns to The West.

It is likely that the Paracel Islands were also visited by the Chinese for scientific purposes. Thus, according to the official history of the Yuan dynasty ¹⁸ "Yuan-shi", in 1279 Kublai Khan commissioned the astronomer Guo Shoujing to conduct astronomical observations in the South China Sea. The necessary observation post was placed on the Paracel Islands at 15 degrees north latitude in Nanhai. The Vietnamese, however, believe that such an argument has nothing to do with the question of China's rights to this point, which no one prevented from creating on the islands that are not permanently occupied by anyone. Similar observation posts have also been set up in other countries, including Siberia and Korea.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the official local chronicles "Guangdong Tong Zhi", "Qiongzhoufu Zhi", and "Wanzhou Zhi" indicate under "Territory" or "Geography, Mountains, and Waters" that Qianlichansha and Wanlishitan were under the Wanzhou administration of Qiongzhou Prefecture.¹⁹

In 1755, the official map "Huang Qing Ge Zhi Shen Fen Tu"²⁰ was published, with the designation of the islands of the South China Sea. Claims to them are recorded both on the "Map of the eternally united Great Qing Empire" from 1810, and on the "Map of the unified Territory of the Great Qing Empire" from 1817. ²¹

Contrary to China's claims, the Vietnamese version of the history of development of the two South China Sea archipelagos is that they have been under effective and permanent Vietnamese rule and used for economic purposes since at least the 17th century. It was then that Do Ba wrote in his book "Road Maps from the capital in four directions" that both archipelagos under the same name of Baikatwang were under the administration of the Binshon District of Quang Nghia Prefecture in Vietnam [The Hoang Sa... and International Law, 1988, p. 2]. The Vietnamese claim that Baikatwang is one of the names of the islands that are also known as Hoangsha, Conwang, Truongsha, Daihoangsha, Daichuongsha, Wanli and Truongsha.

However, Chinese historians do not agree that the Baikatwang and Hoang Sa mentioned in ancient Vietnamese books are related to what the Vietnamese now call Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands. They point out that the descriptions of Baikatwang and Hoang Sha made by Do Ba in the 17th century and Le Ki Don in the 18th century do not correspond to the actual appearance of the Paracelae. So, Do Ba writes that " ... an elongated sandbank called Baikatwang ...it lies in the middle of the sea... It takes a day and a half to reach it from Daichiem Port, and only half a day if you sail from Saki." But Daichiem, they remind in China , is the modern port of Kuadai, located in the province of Quang Nam-Da Nang, and Saki is located in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Ngai. The distance from here to the Paracel Islands is about 200 nautical miles, which is impossible to pass by boat in a day and a half. In the same treatise

¹⁷ The notion that Fa-hsien visited these places has been refuted by a number of scholars. See, for example, N. V. Alexandrova " Path and text. Chinese pilgrims in India", which contains the original text "Fo guo ji". Moscow, 2008.

¹⁸ As is customary, the history of a dynasty is written by the dynasty that succeeded it. The history of the Yuan Dynasty was compiled under the direction of Song Lian, a Confucian scholar and writer, an associate of the first Ming Emperor, Hongwu.

¹⁹ Modern Wanning and Lingshui Counties of Hainan Island.

²⁰ Map of provinces under the direct rule of the Qing Dynasty emperors.

²¹ Beijing, 1820.

Le Qui Don "Phu Bien Tap Luk" ²² describes "130 high-rising shallow islands and reefs", between which lies "a flat yellow sandbank more than 30 li long". However, this description of Hoang Sha does not correspond to the Paracels, where there are no high islands, and the largest of them - Boise-does not reach even 2 km (4 li) in length. It follows, as it is believed in China, that these two oldest Vietnamese sources describe some islands and shoals near the coast of Central Vietnam.

What is certain, however, is that the riches of the Paracel Islands attracted the attention of Vietnamese people in the 17th and 18th centuries. For the extraction of valuable types of wood, pearls, and tortoiseshell in Vietnam, a special state military and economic unit was created, which sent regular expeditions there. Every year, it sent teams of 70 people each to the islands for a period of 6 months. Their tasks included the extraction of gold, silver, weapons and ammunition, tin, porcelain and other expensive products from ships that were wrecked in this part of the sea. References to Hoang Sha and the work of these brigades are found not only in Do Ba's book, but also in many others, such as Notes on the Pacification of the Borders (1776), A True Account of the Former and Present Zainam Dynasties (1844-1848), and Geography of the United Zainam (1882)^.23 Such brigades operated continuously on the islands, including during the reign of the Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945). The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry attaches particular importance today to the fact that the rules of operation of these brigades were determined by the state, since the presence of official representatives of the Vietnamese state on the islands creates grounds for claiming territorial jurisdiction over them.

It is also known that the founder of the Nguyen dynasty, Emperor Zia Long, and his successors took an active interest in the two archipelagos. At the direction of Zia Long, for example, Pham Quang An led an expedition in 1815-1816. conducted a survey of the Paracel archipelago and sea routes in it.

In 1834-1836, the Vietnamese Emperor Minh Mang consistently instructed Generals Truong Phuc Si, Pham Van Nguyen and Pham Huy Nhat to conduct cartographic surveys of each of the islands of the Paracel Archipelago and prepare a general overview of the surrounding waters, draw up maps, build temples and put signs on the islands to indicate their belonging to Vietnam. In 1847, Emperor Thieu Chi approved a report from the Ministry of Public Works, which states, inter alia: "... since the Hoang Sa area is located in our territorial waters, we should, according to general rules, send warships there to identify sea routes " [Documents on the Hoang Sa..., VNA, 1988, p. 3].

In the middle of the XIX century. Vietnamese authorities for the first time recorded the appearance of Chinese fishermen in the area of the islands. At the same time, according to the Vietnamese chronicle, a very old pagoda was discovered on one of the islands, on a stone slab in front of the entrance to which the hieroglyphs were carved: "For ten thousand li - calm waves" [Dai Nam Thuc Luc, tap XVI, tr. 309]. However, given the common written language of both countries at that time, it is difficult to draw an unambiguous conclusion based on this that the pagoda was built by the Chinese.

As for the Spratly Islands, which are much more remote from the mainland of China, no convincing evidence of their use by the Chinese in ancient times has been found. Apart from the extremely rare sightings of seafarers, the area was visited only by fishermen from the region's countries. Chinese fishermen were first encountered near the Spratly Archipelago in 1867 (Heinzig, 1976, p. 23).

By 1836, the Vietnamese chronicles refer to the arrival of a special detachment to the Paracel Islands, which, by order of the Emperor of Vietnam, installed ten ships on them.

²² Miscellaneous information on border pacification (Viet Nam).

²³ Hanoi, State Historical Publishing House, 1959.

five-meter stelae with inscriptions about the islands belonging to Vietnam [Dai Nam Thuc Luc, 1981, tap XVIII, tr. 30-31].

After establishing a protectorate over Vietnam in accordance with the Treaty of June 6, 1884, France concluded a boundary convention with China on June 26, 1887, which was subsequently interpreted differently in the PRC and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The Convention stipulates that the islands lying east of the 108th meridian of east longitude should belong to China. Both the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos are located to the east of this line, but the document does not say which islands are in question. Critics of the Chinese approach to interpreting this provision, according to which the line of demarcation continues indefinitely, and the distance from it does not matter, believe that this provision applies only to islands within territorial waters (at that time - 3 miles), in extreme cases, to the islands of the Gulf of Tonkin, and in the southern part of the convention. It extends only to the point between Hue and Da Nang in Central Vietnam, where the 108th meridian "rests" on the territorial sea of Vietnam.

All these arguments and indirect evidence have become relevant today. As stated in the 1988 document of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam "Hoang Sa and Truong Sa Archipelagos and international law", the Chinese dynasties never challenged and even actually recognized Vietnamese jurisdiction over the archipelagos. As an example, it cites the case when members of the Hoang Sha Brigade were helped by the Chinese to return to Thuanhoa (present-day). Thanh Hoa) from the port of Qinglan on Hainan Island, where the boat of Vietnamese fishermen was carried by a storm, and did not arrest them for violating Chinese territorial waters. When the Franco-Chinese Treaty of 1884 was signed in Tianjin, China recognized French rule in Vietnam. During France's nearly century-long colonial rule in Vietnam, China only made a few claims to the Paracel Archipelago, but when Paris twice (in 1937 and 1947) proposed a negotiated solution to the dispute, the Republic of China rejected the French proposals. On the geographical "General Map of the United Empire" published in China in 1894, ²⁴ Chinese territory ends with the island of Hainan. The map annotation says: "The southernmost point of Qing Country is Zhouya, Guangzhou Fu, Guangdong, 18 degrees 13 minutes. north latitude". In "Zhongguo Dilixue Jiao Keshu", written by geographer Tu Ke in 1905 and published in 1906, Book I also states that the southernmost point of China is at latitude 18 gr. 13 min. [Tu Ke, p. 13].

Vietnamese opponents of the Chinese approach cite the fact of China's official refusal at the end of the XIX century. from extending its sovereign rights to the disputed islands today. Then, at the turn of 1895-1896, the German ship Bellona and the Japanese Imeji Maru sank in shallow water near the Amphitrite group of islands in the Paracel archipelago with a cargo of copper belonging to the British. Due to the fact that some of this copper was found on the Chinese island of Hainan, the British envoy in Beijing protested to the Qing authorities, suggesting that the cargo was illegally raised in Chinese territorial waters off the Paracel Islands without the consent of the owners. In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Zongli Yamen, stated that China could not be held responsible for the plundering of the sunken cargo, since the Paracel Islands did not belong to it [Tran-Minh Tiet, 1979, p. 13; Glob and Mail, 03/20/1974, 18, p. 13].

However, China has not given up on protecting its interests in the South China Sea. In the early years of the twentieth century, the Chinese began to show concern about the possibility of the colonial authorities of Indochina establishing military control over the Paracel Islands. It was based on the fact that the French from time to time

²⁴ "Hoanchao Ithong Yudi Tsung Thu".

they sent warships to this area to study the situation around the islands [The Hoang Sa..., 1981, p. 14]. In April 1902, three Chinese warships were sent there, which reached only the northernmost islands of the Amphitrite group of the Paracel Archipelago and installed the national flag of the Qing Empire on North Island (Beidao) and a stele with an inscription about the island's belonging to China. Shortly before the outbreak of the Pacific War, the stele was demolished by the Japanese [Zhishi niantai, 1974, p. 38]. Fearing clashes with the French, the Chinese expedition did not try to "designate" the Chinese presence even on the largest island of the group - Boise.

In 1909, three Chinese warships of the Guangdong Fleet: "Fubo", "Guanjin" and "Shenhang" led by Admiral Li Zhong on the orders of the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Zhang Renjun again went to the Paracel archipelago, inspected 15 islands and installed stone slabs with their names. On Yongxing Island, they raised the national flag and made a salute [The indisputable sovereignty of China..., 1980, p. 4]. And in 1911, the authorities of Guangdong Province announced the extension of the administrative authority of Yaxian County of Hainan Island to the Paracel Islands [Ibid.].

In response, the French authorities announced preparations for the installation of a lighthouse on the island of Patl of the Croissant group of the Paracel archipelago, and also began to send their sea vessels to patrol the waters of both archipelagos more often in the interests of maintaining security and combating smugglers. In 1920, the French, emphasizing their sovereignty, granted the Japanese a license to develop phosphate deposits in the Paracels. In 1925-1927, the Indochina Oceanographic Institute in Nha Trang sent the steamer De Lanesan to conduct oceanographic, geological and biological studies on the Paracel and Spratly Islands [The Hoang Sa... and International Law, 1988, p. 4; Summary..., 1974, p. 2]. Researchers on board the ship, including hydrographers of the French Navy, mineral resources specialists, and oceanographers, came to the conclusion, among other things, that the platform on which the Paracel Archipelago is located is part of the continental shelf of Vietnam [The Hoang Sa..., Dossier II, 1981, p. 125].

During this period, the authorities of the Chinese province of Guangdong, for their part, in 1928 organized a trip to the Paracel Islands on a military ship of a research group consisting of military personnel and civilian officials, scientists and technical workers [Indisputable Sovereignty of China..., 1980, p.4].

By 1930, the French authorities in Indochina were firmly convinced that the Paracels actually belonged to Vietnam. Their occupation was also demanded by the official Indochinese press. In the period from 1930 to 1932, the warships Inconstant, Alert, and La Maliciaise, as well as the steamer De Lanesan, made several trips to the Paracel Islands [Documents on the Hoang Sa..., VNA, 1988, p. 3].

Most obvious to the French was the fate of the Spratly Archipelago, far from China, which allowed them to control navigation between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Gradually, the French began to extend their control over it. On April 14, 1930, by order of the Governor-General of Indochina, the steamer La Maliciaise, under the command of Captain De Lattre, was sent to this archipelago to raise the French flag there, erect steles to confirm sovereign rights, and then constantly cruise in this area, demonstrating its belonging to France. In 1930-1933, strongholds of the French Navy were located on the most important islands of the archipelago of Spratly, Amboina Cay, Itu Aba, South West Cay, Loaita, and Thitu, as reported in the Official Gazette of the French Republic of July 26, 1933 [The Hoang Sa... and International Law, 1988, p. 5]. On the island of Itu Aba was erected a pillar with the inscription: "The French Republic. Itu Aba Island and dependent territories. April 10, 1933" [Far Eastern..., 1973]. Also on July 26, 1933, the Governor-General of Indochina issued a decree declaring

Annexation of these islands [The Hoang Sa..., Dossier II, 1981, p. 127]. Obviously, the decree concerned only these islands, and not the entire archipelago. December 21, 1933 the Spratly Archipelago by decree of the Governor of Kohinhin, J. R. R. Tolkien. Krautheimer was administratively subordinated to the Vietnamese province of Ba Ria [Documents on the Hoang Sa..., VNA, 1988, p. 3].

From the above, it is obvious that both Vietnam and the PRC claim sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands. At the same time, the demand of the People's Republic of China to recognize the border in the South China Sea, rather arbitrarily established by the Chinese authorities themselves, which resembles a "cow's tongue" in its configuration and covers 80% of its water area, as the only possible one and is not subject to revision, meets counterarguments from the Vietnamese side. Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries directly connected to the South China Sea will not be able to accept the fact that almost their entire maritime border from north to south rests on the waters that the Chinese authorities have declared their own.

In order to move forward in resolving this complex conflict, we need a flexible approach and willingness to compromise, finding either a way to share them, or a section that suits both sides.

list of literature

Aleksandrova N. V. Path and text. Chinese Pilgrims in India, Moscow, 2008.

Hoang Sa and Truong Sa Archipelagos and international law. Document of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Hanoi, April 1988

Minbao yuekan. Hong Kong (in Chinese).

China's undisputed sovereignty over the islands of Xisha and Nansha. Document of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Beijing, January 30, 1980

Tu Ce. Geographical reference of China. Vol. 1. Shanghai, 1906 (in Russian).

Jiefang zhibao. Shanghai.

Zhishi niantai. Beijing, 1974.

Dai Nam Thuc Luc. Tap XVI, tr. 309. Hanoi, 1981.

Documents on the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa Archipelagoes / Vietnam News Agency (VNA), № 055/VNA, February, 25, 1988.

Far Eastern Economic Rewiew. Hong Kong, 1973. Vol. 82. No.52.

Glob and Mail. Toronto.

Hcinzig H. Disputed Islands in the South China Sea. Wiesbaden, 1976.

Joint statement of China and Vietnam. 03.11.2005 / russian.china.org.cn/russian/203249.htm

Summary of Paracel Islands. Bad-Godcsbcrg, 1974.

The Hoang Sa and Truong Sa Archipelagoes and International Law. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Hanoi, April 1988.

The Hoang Sa and Truong Sa Archipelagoes. Dossier II. Hanoi: Vietnam Courier, 1981.

The Hoang Sa and Truong Sa Archipelagoes - Vietnamese Territories / Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 1981.

Tran-Minh Tiet. L'aggression sino-communistc des iles Paracel victnamienncs // La guerre pour la paix. P., 1979.

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