Lucia Millar · Quran user at Quora (company) (2020–present)4y
Question: Vietnam claims the Paracel islands from China, why doesn’t Cambodia claim Kampuchea Krom, Kon Tral, and Koh Tralach islands from Vietnam?
Answer: Both cases are very different.
Kampuchea Krom/Southern Vietnam, Kon Tra/Phu Quoc islands/ Koh Tralach/Con Dao
Cambodia has recognized the sovereignty of Vietnam over the Kampuchea Krom/Southern Vietnam, Kon Tra/Phu Quoc islands/ Koh Tralach/Con Dao.
Cambodia, Vietnam ratify border work
Vietnam and Cambodia have signed the border agreement in which Kampuchea Krom/Southern Vietnam, Kon Tra/Phu Quoc islands/ Koh Tralach/Con Dao are the Vietnamese sovereignty territories. There is no dispute with these Vietnamese territories, Therefore, Cambodia could not claim it.
Paracel Islands:
Since the 19th century, Paracel islands have always been controlled by the Vietnamese or the legal representative of Vietnam, even under the French protectorate period 1885–1945/1954.
In 1954, after the Dien Bien Phu defeat of France, France has transferred back the Paracel islands to Vietnam (South Vietnam) through Geneva 1954. From Vietnams perspective, at the end of the Geneva conference 1954, Zhou Enlai – the representative of China together with the french representatives, North Vietnamese representative and the South Vietnamese representative signed The Final Declaration of The Geneva Conference: On Restoring Peace in Indochina, July 21, 1954.
(PM – China joining the Geneva conference in 1954)
The final declaration, dated July 21, 1954, of the Geneva Conference on the problem of restoring peace in Indochina, in which the representatives of Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam, France, Laos, the People’s Republic of China, the State of Viet-Nam, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and the United States of America took part.
Article 12: In their relations with Cambodia, Laos, and Viet-Nam, each member of the Geneva Conference undertakes to respect the sovereignty, the independence, the unity, and the territorial integrity of the above-mentioned states, and to refrain from any interference in their internal affairs
In this case, Sovereignty of Vietnam including Paracel islands, and in fact, in 1956, after the retreat out of Vietnam in accordance with the Geneva accord 1954 above, France transferred back the Paracel islands to Vietnam, not China. And, China has never officially opposed the French to transferring these islands to Vietnam or sent any diplomatic letters to oppose Vietnam’s takeover of the Paracel islands in 1956.
Once again, In the Paris conference 1973, China also together with America, France, Canada, UK signed the Declaration by Paris Conference on Vietnam in 1973[10] supported and recognized the independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Vietnam.
(the Government of the People’s Republic of China, the Minister for Foreign Affairs CHI PENG‐FEI signed this declaration in 1973)
Article 4 of this declaration stipulated as follows:
The parties to this act solemnly recognize and strictly respect the fundamental national rights of the Vietnamese people, i.e., the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Vietnam, as well as the right of the South Vietnamese people to self‐determination….etc.
In the Paris agreement in 1973, Chapter I, Article 1,
The United States and all other countries respect the independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Vietnam as recognized by the 1954 Geneva Agreements on Vietnam.
Accordingly, China reaffirmed and recognized the independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Viet Nam which had transferred back from France to Vietnam in 1954 through this declaration 1973.
Read more: Has China ever recognized the sovereignty of Vietnam over the Spratly Islands and Paracel Islands in the international treaty or declaration?
However, despite both international agreements signed by the legal representatives of China in 1954 and 1973, China occupied the Paracel islands illegally from Vietnam (South Vietnam) in 1974.
In conclusion: From Vietnams perspective, Cambodia could not claim the Kampuchea Krom/Southern Vietnam, Kon Tra/Phu Quoc islands/ Koh Tralach/Con Dao because of the Vietnamese-Cambodian border agreement signed and ratified by both Cambodia and Vietnam. Also, Vietnam did not need to claim but obviously has sovereignty over the Paracel Islands. Vietnam has never lost sovereignty over the Paracel islands but only lost real control over it after the Paracel battle in 1974.. However, Any act of using the force of China to illegally occupy the Paracel islands does not change the sovereignty of Vietnam over it.
Adding more: China intentionally misquotes VN’s diplomatic letter from the official website of the Vietnamese government
[3] .
VGP – China recently intentionally misquoted a diplomatic letter of late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, addressed to China on September 14, 1958, with the aim of distorting the truth of Viet Nam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos.
First of all, PM Pham Van Dong’s letter only recognized and approved the decision regarding the 12 nautical mile breadth for China’s territorial sea.
Secondly, PM Pham Van Dong’s letter had no word mentioning territorial and sovereignty issues or any archipelagos. Therefore, the letter did not have a constitutive character for giving up territory.
Thirdly, by the Geneva Accords, Viet Nam was divided temporarily into two parts at the 17th parallel, pending reunification through free general elections.
China is one of the signatories of the Geneva Accords and it must know clearly that the two archipelagos Paracels and Spratlys, lying under the 17th parallel, were under the administration of the Republic of Viet Nam.
Zhou Enlai who joined the Geneva conference 1954 as the Chinese representative who has signed the agreement to recognize the sovereignty of Vietnam over the Paracel islands
Viet Nam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) was recognized at the San Francisco Conference in September 1951, which was to settle the issues of territories after the Second World War with the participation of 51 http://states.
At this conference, the Head of the Vietnamese delegation, Prime Minister of Bao Dai’s Government Tran Van Huu reaffirmed Viet Nam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos without any objections from 50 other states.
After signing the Geneva Accords, the French Government transferred the two islands to the Republic of Viet Nam which had maintained effective control and exercised sovereignty over the two archipelagos.
Since Viet Nam regained unification in 1975, the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam administered the islands in the Truong Sa archipelago and constantly asserted its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago.
Under the contemporary international law on the territorial acquisition, a state is recognized to have sovereignty over some territory if that state can prove its occupation of and exercising sovereignty over such territory in the capacity as a state in an effective, continuous and peaceful manner.
Accordingly, Viet Nam has established and exercised its sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos in accordance with principles of the international National Center of Legal Information of the Republic of Belarus the use of force, China occupied the Hoang Sa archipelago in 1956 and 1974. Some islets, rocks, and shoals in the Truong Sa archipelago of Viet Nam were also occupied by China in 1988.
Any acts of using force to occupy Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos constituted a serious violation of the UN Charter and principles of international law.
A diplomatic memorandum, an official document issued by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 12, 1988, clearly stated a fundamental principle of international law that sovereignty over territory can not be achieved through invasion.
China uses distorted information to deceive others but over the past few days, no country in the world has voiced support for China’s illegal placement of its drilling rig in Viet Nam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf./.
Lusia Millar
Footnotes
http://news.chinhphu.vn/Home/China-intentionally-misquotes-VNs-diplomatic-letter/20145/21171.vgp
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