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Background Brief: South China Sea: Chinese Maps Omit Modern Claims Carlyle A. Thayer November 28, 2012

[client name deleted] 1. As an expert on the South China Sea issues, could you offer your assessment of Thang Tran's map collection [see article attached below]? ANSWER: Maps such as Thang Tran's collection, provide unique historical insights into present day claims. They show contradictions in China's claim to "indisputable sovereignty." 2. In case Vietnam decides to take the disputed islands issue to the International Court, do you think his map can be used as historical and legal evidence to refute the China's claims over Paracels and Spratly Islands? Why or why not? ANSWER: In international law maps are considered only information. The real test of sovereignty is occupation and continual administration. A claimant needs to demonstrate how occupation and administration was conducted. In this context a census, taxation, voting, provision of government services is more important. Maps, as noted above, only provide information. 3. Could you please offer your assessment of the current dispute between Vietnam and China regarding these two islands? ANSWER: The case of the Paracel Islands is a bilateral matter between China and Vietnam. Only these two parties can decide on the question of sovereignty. If China refuses to take the matter to international adjudication no international tribunal will consider the matter. China needs to clarify the legal basis for its claims to the Spratlys. It is unclear what China is claiming and how far its claims extend. Clarification would assist in determining whether certain islands and rocks are a bilateral or multilateral dispute. 4. Which grounds do you think Vietnam should rely on to prove the ownership of these two islands? ANSWER: Vietnam needs to argue its case on effective occupation and administration particularly in the contemporary period. This would include records of the Nguyen Dynasty as well as provincial governments. Vietnam needs to provide details of what administrative services were provided and demonstrate that the Nguyen Dynasty and subsequent governments effectively maintained a presence on these islands.

2 5. Is your current trip to Vietnam related to theSouth China Sea issue? If so , could you offer some insight into the conferences you are attending? ANSWER: I attended two conferences in Vietnam, the 4th international workshop on the South China Sea and the 4th international Vietnamese studies conference. My paper at the first conference addressed the question of militarization of the South China Sea dispute. I demonstrated that the build up of the Chinese navy had may purposes not all of which were related to the South China Sea. But the growth of the People's Liberation Army Navy was a worrying long-term trend and was likely to give rise to small armed incidents. I argued that the waters of the South China Sea were contested, increasingly congested and prone to armed strife. The second conference had 15 separate streams. I attended the papers in the international relations stream. At the summary of proceedings it was clear that many of the other panels addressed the history of Vietnam's claims to the islands and waters in the East Sea. In my panel Professor Nguyen Manh Hung from George Mason University gave a paper on claims to the South China Sea. A notable exchange took place when a Chinese scholar protested that he came to Hanoi to attend an academic conference. He said that Professor Hung's paper was not academic. Professor Hung replied that he was an American citizen who lived in country that supported his right to his own opinion. He argued that even the American president could not tell him he was not entitled to his own view. This drew a round of applause from the audience.

Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, South China Sea: Chinese Maps Omit Modern Claims, Thayer Consultancy Background Brief, November 28, 2012.

Institute donates 80 maps refuting Chinas claims TUOI TRE NEWS Updated : Sat, October 13, 2012,11:06 AM (GMT+0700)

A map of China in the Postal Atlas of China published in China in 1933, indicating that the southernmost border of China is Hainan Island Photo: Collection of Tran Thang
The Institute for Vietnamese Culture & Education (IVCE) in the US has donated 80 maps of China that do not feature Truong Sa (Spratly) and Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands to an institute in Vietnams central city of Da Nang. Tran Thang, chairman of IVCE, yesterday announced the decision to present his collection of 80 maps of China to the Da Nang Institute for SocioEconomic Development, which has been studying the Spratly and Paracel Islands. I would like to share with you my collection of 80 maps of the 1626 1980 period which were published in England, America, France, Germany, Canada, Scotland, India, etc The dimension of maps varies from 8 x 10 (20cm x 25cm) to 24 x 30 (60cm x 75cm), Thang said. 70 maps indicate that the southernmost border of China is Hainan Island, and 10 maps indicate that Paracel belongs to Vietnam, Thang said on IVCEs website at http://www.ivce.org.

4 As Vietnamese, we all have the obligation to preserve our country as well as to take part in shaping the future of Vietnamese society.

Tran Thang, chairman of the US-based Institute for Vietnamese Culture & Education (Photo: IVCE) Thang said he has compiled the maps after reading a Tuoi Tre article that mentioned a map that was published by China but did not include Truong Sa and Hoang Sa as parts of its territories. The cost of map collection was paid by Thang and his friends in the US and other countries. Thanh also said that during his map collecting, he found two Postal Atlas Map of China books which were published by Directorate General of Posts, Ministry of Transportation Republic of China in 1919 and 1933 and one Atlas of the Chinese Empire book which was published by China Inland Mission in 1909. All these three books do not list Paracel and Spratly in the map and index page, he said. Below are some of the 80 maps of China collected by Thang:

Jacob Van Meurs. Dutch (1665)

Abraham Rees, Longman Hurst Rees & Orme Paternoster Row, London, England (1808)

Thomsons New General Atlas. Edinburgh, Scotland (1815)

A map of China in the Postal Atlas Map of China book published by Directorate General of Posts, Ministry of Transportation Republic of China in 1933