Exhibition of Historical Archives on the Southern Territories of the Republic of China

 

A Chronology of Major Events 

 

Sources: Ministry of the Interior and Academia Historica

 

September 9, 2014

 

 

1907: A Japanese, named Nishizawa Yoshiji (西澤吉次), intruded into Dongsha Islands (Pratas Islands，東沙群島).

 

1909: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Qing Dynasty authorized Yuan Shuxun (袁樹勛), the viceroy of Liangguang, to sign an agreement to return the Pratas Islands to the Qing Dynasty with the Japanese consul general stationed in Guangdong Province.  Zhang Renjun (張人駿), the successor viceroy of Liangguang, instructed Lee Chun (李準), provincial naval commander of Guangdong Province, to inspect the Paracel Islands (西沙群島).  Chang also petitioned to the Qing Court that officials be sent to govern the Pratas Islands and the Paracel Islands.

 

1910: The Guangdong Province government started to explore natural resources in the Pratas Islands.  Zhang Renjun (張人駿), instructed Lee Chun (李準), the provincial naval commander of Guangdong Province, to patrol and inspect the Pratas Islands and the Paracel Islands.

 

1921: The Guangdong Provincial government of the Republic of China (ROC) issued a permit to the Paracel Islands Industry Company, owned by He Jui-nien (何瑞年), a businessman from Guangdong Province, to explore phosphate deposits on the Paracel Islands.

 

1925: The ROC Foreign Ministry delivered a note to Japanese Minister Plenipotentiary in China that no one could fish in the waters surrounding the Pratas Islands without a permit from the ROC government, asking him to inform Japanese fishermen to withdraw from the Pratas Islands, and demanded that they should not  intrude into ROC waters for fishing.  The ROC Maritime Survey Bureau established a weather station on the Pratas Islands and built a lighthouse for navigation.

 

1926: The ROC government declared that the Pratas Islands and the Paracel Islands were part of a military zone under the administration of the ROC Navy.  The ROC Maritimes Survey Bureau planned to establish a weather station on the Paracel Islands.

 

1928:  Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangdong Province and the Guangdong Provincial Rehabilitation Administration surveyed the Paracel Islands.

 

1930: The Far East Conference on Meteorology held in Hong Kong asked the ROC government to establish a weather station on the Paracel Islands and the Macclesfield Bank (中沙群島) in order to promote maritime safety.

 

1932: The Foreign Ministry of France sent a note to the ROC Legation (diplomatic mission) in France requesting information on the sovereignty over Qizhou Island (七洲島), and the ROC Foreign Ministry reiterated our sovereignty over Qizhou Island.

 

1933: France occupied nine small islands in the South China Sea.  The ROC Foreign Ministry asked the ROC Navy to dispatch vessels to protect ROC sovereignty over the islands and started negotiations with the French government.

 

1935: The Waters and Land Maps Review Committee made a bilingual geographical glossary of China’s islands in the South China Sea and issued the glossary in its first monthly publication.  The committee also mapped China’s islands in the South China Sea and issued the maps in its second monthly publication.

 

1937:  After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident and the start of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Japan invaded and occupied the Pratas Islands and the Paracel Islands.

 

1939:  The Japanese Governor-General of Taiwan (then under Japanese colonial rule) issued its 122nd Order and declared that some of the islets belonging to the Spratly Islands were under the administration of Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.

 

1945: The Weather Bureau under the Taiwan Provincial Administration Office dispatched officials to take over the weather station on the Paracel Islands.

 

1946: The ROC Navy Headquarters sent the first batch of officials to the Pratas Islands.  The ROC Executive Yuan (Cabinet) instructed the Guangdong Provincial government to take over the Pratas Islands, the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands.  The ROC Interior Ministry held a meeting to discuss how to take over the islands in the South China Sea, and mapped the islands in the South China Sea.  President Chiang Kai-shek personally instructed Chen Cheng (陳誠), then the Chief of the General Staff of the ROC Armed Forces, to station ROC Army troops, transported via Navy vessels, on the Pratas Islands and the Paracel Islands.  President Chiang Kai-shek ordered that a platoon of troops be stationed on the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands within one month, and that an inspection of the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands be carried out simultaneously.  Yao Ruyu (姚汝鈺), an ROC Navy Captain, led ROCS Yung-hsing (永興號) and ROCS Chung-chien (中建號) to take over the Paracel Islands.  Lin Zun (林遵), an ROC Navy Captain, led ROCS Tai-ping (太平號) and ROCS Chung-Yeh (中業號) to the Taiping Island in the South China Sea to accomplish their mission of taking over the Spratly Islands.

 

1947: After French troops forcibly landed on the Coral Island in the Paracel Islands, President Chiang Kai-shek ordered the ROC Foreign Ministry to lodge a protest against the French government.  The ROC National Government approved the renaming of all islands in the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands, renaming Woody Island (武德島) to Yongxing Island (永興島) and Long Island (長島) to Taiping Island (太平島).  The ROC Navy administered the Pratas Islands, the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands, and established three Administration Offices of the Pratas Islands, the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands.  The Interior Ministry submitted a new glossary of the names and the locations of all the islands in the South China Sea to the Executive Yuan.  The Executive Yuan submitted the materials to the National Government for approval.  The ROC Interior Ministry made public the names of all the islands in the South China Sea.

 

1948:  The ROC Economics Ministry established a phosphate mine on Lin Island and Shih Island in the Paracel Islands.

 

1949: The US Armed Forces were dispatched to Taiping Island to search for missing aircraft and the remains of the pilots fallen in WWII.  The ROC President promulgated the “Regulation Governing the Office of the Organization of Hainan District Administrator.”  The ROC President also put the islands in the South China Sea under the Hainan District Administrator, but the ROC Navy temporarily administrated the islands in the South China Sea.

 

1952: The ROC signed the “Treaty of Peace between Japan and the Republic of China” in Taipei on April 28, 1952.  Japan renounced all rights, titles, and claims to Taiwan (Formosa) and Penghu (the Pescadores) as well as the Spratley Islands and the Paracel Islands.

 

1955: The Philippine Air Force conducted reconnaissance missions of the islands in the South China Sea and the ROC Foreign Ministry recommended that the ROC Defense Ministry stations troops on the islands in the South China Sea.  The US Embassy asked about ROC claims to the islands in the South China Sea.  The First Assembly in the Pacific Region under the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) reached a resolution requesting that the ROC government provide supplemental weather information on the islands in the South China Sea. 

 

1956: The Tomas Cloma brothers from the Philippines landed on the islands in the South China Sea without permit and claimed the right to occupy the islands.  The ROC Navy dispatched a Li Wei (立威) flotilla to patrol Taiping Island, Nan Wei (南威) Island, and Xi Yue (西月) Island in the South China Sea.  President Chiang Kai-shek issued an order that the ROC government should station troops on the islands in the South China Sea.  The ROC Navy dispatched a Wei Yuan (威遠) flotilla to patrol Taiping Island in the South China Sea and the ROC Navy headquarters established two defense regions in the Pratas Islands and the Spratly Islands.  Vietnam landed on the islands in the South China Sea without permission, and the ROC government lodged a solemn protest against the Vietnamese government.  The Ning Yuan (寧遠) flotilla of the ROC Navy intercepted Filemon Cloma, the captain of the training boat of the Philippines Maritime School, at Bei Zi Reef in the South China Sea.  The Vietnamese government incorporated the Spratly Islands into Phuoc Tuy Tinh (福綏省 in Vietnamese), the ROC Embassy in Vietnam reiterated our sovereignty over the Spratly Islands.

 

1957: The ROC Embassy in the Philippines issued a news statement to reiterate our sovereignty over the Spratly Islands.

 

1958: The ROC Veterans Affairs Council started to explore the natural resources in the Spratly Islands.

 

1959: The Yang Wei (揚威) flotilla of the ROC Navy established a radar reflection tower on the Nan Zi (南子) Reef.

 

1960: The Taiwan Postal Administration (now Chunghua Post Company，中華郵政) established a post office on the Spratly Islands under the management of the Kaohsiung Postal Region.

 

1961:  The US Armed Forces surveyed the Spratly Islands.

 

1963: The Vietnamese landed on some islets of the Spratly Islands and destroyed the ROC national border marker at Nan Wei (南威) Island.   The Yang Wei flotilla patrolled the Spratly Islands and found a stone tablet left by the Vietnamese.  The Navy destroyed the stone tablet and photographed the evidence.

 

1964:  The ROC Navy surveyed the sea lanes of the Spratly Islands.

 

1965: The Civil Aeronautics Administration under the ROC Ministry of Transportation and Communications drew a flight restricted zone in the Pratas Islands and the Spratly Islands, and completed the construction of the national border marker on Nan Yao Island (南鑰島).

 

1966: The ROC Defense Ministry completed the construction of national border markers on Nan Zi Island (南子島), Bei Zi Island (北子島), and Chung Ye Island (中業島).  The ROC Defense Ministry sent an official communication ent to the United States Taiwan Defense Command (美台灣協防司令部), saying that if any US aircraft needed to fly through the air space of the flight restricted zones of the Pratas Islands and the Spratly Islands, it was necessary to inform the ROC Defense Ministry in order to avoid being attacked by mistake and the US must inform the ROC Defense Ministry of the flight plan in advance.

 

1971:  The Philippines illegally occupied Chung Ye Island (中業島), Nan Yao Island (南鑰島), and Bei Zi Island (北子島).  The Vietnamese government issued a statement claiming sovereignty over the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands.

 

1973: The Vietnamese illegally landed on Hong Xiu  Island (鴻庥島) in the South China Sea.

 

1974: The Vietnamese government issued a statement claiming sovereignty over the Spratly Islands.

 

1975: The Vietnamese government issued a whitepaper with respect to the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands. 

 

1978: The Philippines government announced that the Spratly Islands were part of the Kalayaan Archipelago.

 

1980: The Malaysian government illegally occupied some of the islets in the Spratly Islands.

 

1981: The Chinese Petroleum Corporation (CPC) started to drill near Taiping Island in the Spratly Islands to explore for natural gas and oil.

 

1987: Construction of the Dongsha Island Airport was completed.

 

1990:  The ROC Executive Yuan put the Pratas Islands and the Taiping Island under the administration of Kaohsiung City Government.

 

1991: Kaohsiung City Government conducted a cadastre survey on the Pratas Islands.

 

1992: The ROC Interior Ministry submitted the “Key Points for the Establishment of the Task Force on the South China Sea” to the Executive Yuan.

 

1993: The ROC Cabinet approved the "Policy Guidelines on the South China Sea" and the “Job Assignments under the Policy Guidelines on the South China Sea.”  The ROC Interior Ministry established a satellite tracking station.

 

1996: The Chunghwa Post Company issued commemoration stamps depicting the Pratas Islands and the Spratly Islands.

 

1999: Malaysia illegally occupied Yu Ya underwater sandy beach (榆亞暗沙) and the Po Ji Reef (箥箕礁).  

 

2000:  The ROC Coast Guard Administration (CGA) under the Executive Yuan was formally established and the CGA was put in charge of defending the Pratas Islands and the Spratly Islands.  The ROC Executive Yuan declared the scope of the military zones in the Pratas Islands and the Spratly Islands.

 

2002: Kaohsiung City Government prohibited fishing inside the baseline of the Pratas Islands.

 

2005: The ROC Executive Yuan disbanded the task force of the South China Sea under the Interior Ministry and referred South China Sea affairs to the National Security Council.  The “Task Force on the South China Sea,” “Policy Guidelines on the South China Sea,” and “Job Assignments under the Policy Guideline on the South China Sea” were abolished.  The Interior Ministry established a satellite tracking station on Taiping Island.

 

2007: The Interior Ministry established the Dongsha Marine National Park (東沙環礁國家公園).  Kaohsiung City Government declared a sea turtle preservation zone around Taiping Island in the Spratly Islands.

 

2008: Construction was completed on the runway of the Taiping Island Airstrip.

 

2009: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China issued a statement to the governments of Malaysia and Vietnam after they filed a Joint Submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf of the United Nations, extending the outer limits of their respective continental shelves to 200 nautical miles beyond their shorelines.

 

2010: The ROC Foreign Ministry reiterated our position on the South China Sea.  A solar power system came on Taiping Island.  The Chinese Petroleum Corporation asked the Economics Ministry to grant it a permit to explore natural resources near the Pratas Islands and the Spratly Islands.  The CGA organized the “Tour of the Pratas Islands: Maritime Safety and Ecology Experience Camp.”  The Defense Ministry organized the “All-People Study Camp on National Defense of the Spratly Islands.”

 

2012: The Interior Ministry surveyed the landscape of the Zhongzhou Reef (中洲礁).

 

2013: Two post offices were established on the Pratas Islands and Taiping Island.  The Interior Ministry surveyed the seas around the central and southern parts of the South China Sea.