Paracel Islands

The Paracel Islands, also known as Xisha in Chinese and Hoàng Sa in Vietnamese, are a group of islands, reefs, banks and other maritime features in the South China Sea. They are controlled (and occupied) by the People's Republic of China, and also claimed by Taiwan (Republic of China) and Vietnam. The archipelago includes about 130 small coral islands and reefs, most grouped into the northeast Amphitrite Group or the western Crescent Group. They are distributed over a maritime area of around 15,000 square kilometres (5,800 sq mi), with a land area of approximately 7.75 square kilometres (2.99 sq mi). The archipelago is approximately equidistant from the coastlines of China (PRC) and Vietnam; and approximately one-third of the way from central Vietnam to the northern Philippines. The archipelago includes Dragon Hole, the deepest underwater sinkhole in the world. The colonial government of French Indochina set up a weather station on Pattle Island in the Crescent Group in the 1930s. Later, French and Vietnamese forces landed on Pattle Island in the Crescent Group in January 1947. By 1955 South Vietnam had taken possession of the Crescent Group. This situation changed with the Battle of the Paracel Islands in January 1974 when the PRC expelled the South Vietnamese from the Paracel Islands. South Vietnam's claim to the islands was inherited by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam which has ruled all of Vietnam since 1976. In July 2012, China (PRC) declared a city named Sansha, under Hainan Province, as administering the area. Turtles and seabirds are native to the islands, which have a hot and humid climate, abundant rainfall and frequent typhoons. The archipelago is surrounded by productive fishing grounds and a seabed with potential, but as yet unexplored, oil and gas reserves. In February 2017, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative reported 20 outposts of the PRC built on reclaimed land in the Paracels, three of which have small harbours capable of berthing naval and commercial ships. The Amphitrite group was named after the French frigate Amphitrite, which observed the islands while carrying a Jesuit mission to Canton in 1698–1700.