You may want to learn history again. Xisha islands belonged to China before French colonists occupied them. Though, French and Britain acknowledged those islands are Chinese territory. After WWII, China regained the islands.
Battle of the Paracel Islands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The tiny, uninhabited Paracel Islands, called Xisha Islands (西沙群島; Xisha Qundao) in Chinese and Hoang Sa Islands (Quần Đảo Hoàng Sa; Quan Dao Hoang Sa) in Vietnamese, lie in the South China Sea roughly 200 miles from the nearest Asian mainland shore. With no native population, the archipelago’s ownership has been frequently in dispute since the early 20th century.
On July 3, 1938, French troops, who had colonized Indochina in the 19th century, invaded and occupied the Paracel Islands despite Chinese protests. This took place shortly after the breakout of the Second Sino-Japanese War, when China was fully engaged in resisting Japan’s invasion. Three days later, on July 6, the Japanese Foreign Ministry also issued a declaration in protest of the French occupation:
The statement of Great Britain and France made respectively in 1900 and 1921 already declared that the Xisha (Paracel) Islands were part of the Administrative Prefecture of Hainan Island. Therefore, the current claims made by An’nan or France to the Xisha Islands are totally unjustifiable.[1]
During the Second World War, the Japanese defeated the French occupying troops and took over the islands in spite of their 1938 declaration. At the end of the war (Asian-Pacific Region), the government of the Republic of China formally regained the Paracels, Spratlys and other islands in the South China Sea in October and November 1946.
You should go back to school before you can teach me history.
From Wikipedia:
Hoàng Sa
The Vietnamese call the islands Hoang Sa, (黃沙 or Yellow Sands), has been found in historic Vietnamese documents dating back to the 15th century.[5] In the modern language system it is written as Hoàng Sa or Cát Vàng. They all have the same meaning that is the Yellow Sands or the Yellow Sandbank. Before the early 19th century, the present-day Spratly Islands were treated as the features of Hoàng Sa.[6][7] Only under the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng (1820–1841) when the Spratlys were distinctly delineated and officially named Vạn Lý Trường Sa, the Ten-thousand-league Long Sandbank.[8][9]
Vietnam
15th–17th centuries
1460-1497, under the reign of Emperor Lê Thánh Tông, the Vietnamese began conducting commercial activities on and around Hoàng Sa, including harvesting abundant sea-products and conducting salvage operations on shipwrecks.[5]
In 1634, under the Lê Dynasty (1527–1786), the ship Grootebroek of the Dutch East India Company sank in the vicinity of the Paracel archipelago. Using a small boat, captain Huijch Jansen and 12 sailors managed to reach Annam, territory of Lord Nguyễn Phước Nguyên (1613–1635), to seek rescue for other castaways remained on the islands.[19]
1680-1705, Lord Trịnh Căn instructed Đỗ Bá Công Đạo to publish Thiên Nam Tứ Chí Lộ Đồ, an encyclopedia consists of 4 series of maps that detail routes from Thăng Long, capital of Đại Việt, to other countries in the Southeast Asia. Part of this work was based on the Hồng Đức Atlas (Hồng Đức Bản Đồ
developed during the time of Emperor Lê Thánh Tông (1460–1497). This encyclopedia was considered one of the oldest and rarely preserved Vietnamese documents regarding the islands. The volume "Đường từ phủ Phụng Thiên đến Chiêm Thành" (The Route to Champa from Phụng Thiên Province), remarkably described the archipelago with maps. For instance, a statement found in the volume read "In the middle of the sea, there is a long sandbank called Bãi Cát Vàng, which is approximately 400-league long and 20-league wide rising up above the sea." Bãi Cát Vàng means Hoàng Sa, Golden Sandbank.[5][20]
In the 18th century, under instructions of the Nguyễn Lords, the salvage operations officially started with the formation of Hoàng Sa and Bắc Hải Companies. Their responsibility was to carry out the mission at Hoàng Sa (Golden Sandbank) and Vạn Lý Trường Sa (Ten-thousand-league Long Sandbank) respectively. This effort was continued thereafter with successive establishments of other naval task units in accordance with strategic policies toward the two archipelagos under the Nguyễn Dynasty. Noticeably, a number of naval battles between the Dutch fleet and the Nguyễn Royal Navy occurred in 1643 and 1644. The Hoàng Sa naval task unit consisted of 70 men recruited from An Vĩnh and An Hải villages of Quảng Ngãi, while the majority of members of the Bắc Hải Company came from Bình Thuận province.[5][8][21][22]
1700–1799
In 1776, the Phủ Biên Tạp Lục, the Miscellaneous Records on the Pacification of the Frontiers, published by Lê Qúi Đôn, a philosopher, an encyclopaedist, and a Minister of Construction of the Lê Dynasty (1527–1786). These six volumes detail the Nguyễn Dynasty's territories, including the exploitation of the Paracel and Spratly Islands from 1702 onwards.[5][21][22]
1777-1784, when traveling to Cochin China, Father Jean-Baptiste Grosier recorded his impression about maritime activities of the Vietnamese from Huế, Đà Nẳng, and Quảng Ngãi. The abbot Grosier wrote that the people from those ports were excellent and cleverest navigators in this Kingdom. One of their activities was making long distance sailing every year to the long chain of islands and rocks known as the Paracels to collect debris from shipwrecks.[23]
1800–1899
1802-1820, under the reign of Emperor Gia Long, the territory of his kingdom included Tonkin, Cochin China, part of Cambodia, and "certain islands off the coast including the well known Paracels which bear such an evil reputation as a source of danger to navigation in the China Seas."[24]
In 1807, the East India Company sent Captain Daniel Ross to Cochin China to survey the Paracel Islands. Upon arriving to the kingdom, he presented a letter of introduction entrusted by the English company to the reigning king, who was believed to be Emperor Gia Long at that time.[25] Subsequently, Captain Ross completed chartering the south coast of China in 1807, the Paracel Islands in 1808, part of the coast of Cochin China in 1809, and the coast of Palawan in 1810. Most notably, in his surveys published in 1821 under the title "(South) China Sea, Sheet I & II", the Spratly Islands was referred to as The Dangerous Ground, and was later renamed as Storm Island on the 1859 edition of the chart.[26] Separately, in another document, the "Correct Chart of the China Sea", published by Herbert in 1758, the Paracel archipelago was described as a long group of islands and reefs extending from 13 to 17 degrees North, which approximately correspond to the geographic latitudes of the present-day Spratly and Paracel Islands, respectively.[26] It is quite clearly that the captain himself, and probably most navigators of his time, did not differentiate the two archipelagos, but instead had delineated the present-day Spratly Islands as part of the Paracels. Captain Daniel Ross was a well known hydrographer of the Navy of Government of English Bengal and founder of the Bombay Geographical Society.[27]
In 1815, Emperor Gia Long ordered Phạm Quang Anh's Hoàng Sa naval task unit to sail to the islands to make surveys and report on maritime routes and draw up maps.[22][28]
In 1816, according to Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau, Emperor Gia Long officially claimed the sovereignty of the Paracel Islands, which would include the present-day Spratly archipelago. These two islands were later delineated distinctly under the reign of his successor, Emperor Minh Mạng. Chaigneau was one of the most respected advisors to Emperor Gia Long. He spent more than 30 years in Cochinchina and became the first French Consul to this kingdom in 1821.[29]
Đại Nam Thống Nhất Toàn Đồ - The Unified Đại Nam Complete Map - distinctly delineated Hoàng Sa and Vạn Lý Trường Sa, 1838.
In 1821, the Lịch Triều Hiến Chương Loại Chí published by Phan Huy Chú, a historian, an encyclopaedist, and an officer of the Ministry of Construction in the time of emperor Minh Mạng. This remarkable work was prepared in 10 years (1809–1819) and consisted of 10 volumes. One of them, the Địa Dư Chí volume, details territories of Dai Nam Kingdom. In 1838, he published the Đại Nam Thống Nhất Toàn Đồ, the Unified Đại Nam Complete Map, that distinctly delineated Vạn Lý Trường Sa (the Ten-thousand-league Long Sandbank) and Hoàng Sa (the Golden Sandbank).[8]
In 1833, Emperor Minh Mạng ordered Ministry of Construction to build a temple, erect steles, and plant many trees on the islands for navigation purposes.[22][28]
The Royal Ordinance issued by Emperor Minh Mạng, 1835.
In 1834, Emperor Minh Mạng ordered Trương Phúc Sĩ, a naval task unit commander, accompanied by 21 men sailing to the islands to survey and draw map of Hoàng Sa.[5]
In 1835, Emperor Minh Mạng issued a royal ordinance to order 24 troops to the Paracel Islands. The royal ordinance has been preserved by generations of Đặng family and was publicly disclosed in early 2009.[30]
In 1835, the King ordered Phạm Văn Nguyên's naval task unit, accompanied by workers from Bình Định and Quãng Ngãi provinces, to build Hoàng Sa temple with a wind screen and erect steles on Bàn Than Thạch (Bàn Than Rock) of the present-day Woody Island. The mission was completed in 10 days. Notably, about 33m southwest from the erection, there was a little ancient temple where a stele engraved with the words "Vạn Lý Ba Bình" found. This inscription means Ten Thousand Leagues of Calming Waves. The date of the actual erection of the ancient temple remains unknown[22][28]
In 1836, Emperor Minh Mạng received a report from his Ministry of Construction that recommended a comprehensive survey of all the East Sea islands because of their "great strategic importance to our maritime borders.[22][31]" The King ordered Phạm Hữu Nhật, a royal navy commander, to erect a wooden stele on the islands. The post was engraved with the following inscription: The 17th of the reign of Minh Mạng by the royal ordinance commander of the navy Phạm Hữu Nhật came here to Hoàng Sa for reconnaissance to make topographical measurements and leave this stele as record thereof.[22][28]
In 1838, Bishop Jean-Louis Taberd published the "Latin-Annamese Dictionary". The dictionary contains the "An Nam Đại Quốc Họa Đồ" (The Great Annam Map). In the neighborhood of the present-day coordinate of the islands, words found on the map read "Paracel seu Cát Vàng" (Paracel or Cát Vàng). Cát Vàng means Hoàng Sa, Golden Sands or Golden Sandbank.[9]
In 1842, Hai Lu Do Chi, a historical Chinese document was written in the 22nd year of the reign of the Daoguang Emperor (1820–1850) of the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912) of China. A statement found in this book read: Wang Li Shi Tang (万里石塘 is a sandbank rising above the sea. Several thousand leagues in length, it forms a rampart on the periphery of the Kingdom of Annam. Wang Li Shi Tang means Ten-thousand-league Long Sandbank.[22]
In 1858, Napoleon III ordered French troops to attack Tourane, the present-day Đà Nẳng city. Subsequently, France launched more attacks and forced Cochin China and some provinces in the South to become her colonies. The French Indochina was formed in 1887 and consisted of Tonkin, Annam, Cochin China, and Cambodia.
1895-1896, German vessel Bellona and Japanese ship Imezi Maru sank at the islands. Chinese fishermen looted and resold them at Hainan. These countries protested but local Chinese authorities, the Governor of Liang Guang, denied any responsibilities on the ground that the Paracels were abandoned and belonged to neither country.[22]
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