Names of South China Sea Islands in 1947
1. Historical background on the 1947 Revised South China Sea Names:
Following Paragraphs are from the following paper:
- Jinming, Li and Li Dexia. The Dotted Line on the Chinese Map of the
South China Sea: A Note. Ocean Development & International Law,
34:287–295, 2003.
- Provides details of the history of the dotted line marking Chinese
claims in the South China Sea since 1947 and presents the current opinions
of scholars and others on the issue. Keywords: cartography, Chinese
territory.
After the Second World War, the Chinese government regained possession
of the
Paracel and the Spratly Islands. In order to define and declare the extent
of Chinese
sovereignty around the Paracel and the Spratly Islands, at the beginning
of 1947 the Chinese Ministry of Internal Affairs adjusted the names of
all the South China Sea
Islands. The Spratly and the Paracel Islands were renamed on the basis
of their geographic
location in the South China Sea, and the names of the islands and reefs
in other
areas of the South China Sea were checked and announced by the Geography
Department
in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Ministry of Internal Affairs
held discussions
with other concerned departments on April 14, 1947.
There were three results of these discussions. First, the southernmost
point of Chinese
territory in the South China Sea was reaffirmed as being the James Shoal.
This had
become the standard adopted in the publications of Chinese government
organizations,
schools, and the press. Second, it was decided that the Ministry of Internal
Affairs should
demonstrate authority over the Paracel and the Spratly Islands by providing
a detailed
description of the islands, promulgate Chinese sovereignty over the islands,
and ensure
public notice of China’s authority over the islands. In addition,
the Navy should try its
best to station personnel on the islands. Third, when the fishing season
around the Paracel
and the Spratly Islands came, the Navy and the government of Guangdong
Province
should protect the fishermen who went out to the island areas and provide
them with
transportation and communication facilities.4[See Celiang xisha nansha
qundao shatoujiao zhongying jieshi [The Sino-British Terminus in Shatoujiao
of the Measurement of The Paracel and the Spratly Islands], the Governmental
Archives of Guangdong Province.] All of these actions manifest that the
Chinese government of the time had defined the Chinese territorial sphere
in the South
China Sea.
For the purpose of specifying China’s territorial sphere in the
South China Sea, the
Geography Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs printed The Location
Map of
the South China Sea Islands (Nanhai zhudao weizhi tu) in 1947. On this
map, the Pratas
Islands, the Paracel Islands, the Macclesfield Bank, and the Spratly Islands
were shown
as being part of China with the use of an 11-dotted line. The southernmost
boundary
was marked at 4º northern latitude. According to Wang Xiguang, who
participated in
the compilation of maps at the Geography Department of the Ministry of
Internal
Affairs, “the dotted national boundary line was drawn as the median
line between China
and the adjacent states.”5[Xu Sen’an, “Nanhai duanxu
guojiexian de neihan” [The Connotation of the 9-Dotted Line on the
Chinese Map of the South China Sea], in “21 shiji de nanhai: wenti
yu qianzhan”
yantaohui lunwen xuan [Paper Selections of the Seminar on “The South
China Sea in the 21st
Century: Problems and Perspective”], ed. Zhong Tianxiang (Hainan
Research Center of the South
China Sea, 2000), 80.]
In February 1948, the Geography Department in the Ministry of Internal
Affairs
published The Administrative Division Map of the Republic of China (Zhonghua
minguo
xingzheng quyu tu) edited by Fu Jiaojin and compiled by Wang Xiguang and
others. On
the Map of China and its attached map–-The Location Map of the South
China Sea
Islands (Nanhai zhudao weizhi tu)–-the Pratas Islands, the Paracel
Islands, the Macclesfield
Bank, and the Spratly Islands were indicated as being part of the Republic
of China’s
territory. An eleven-dotted line was drawn around the above four features
in the South
China Sea and the southernmost line was about the 4º northern latitude.
It was the first
time that a map marked with the dotted line in the South China Sea was
officially issued
during the Kuomintang (KMT) period.
2. For the Complete Name List of South China Sea Islands published in
1947, please refer to the section 2 of 1935 South China
Sea Names.
3.Please view the Location Map of the South China
Sea Islands (Nanhai zhudao weizhi tu) in 1947 under Spratly
Islands Maps. |
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