Saturday, May 2, 2020

The History of Pag-Asa Island as per Vietnam

This was posted by at Vietnamese website a couple of months ago (March 2020), and it mentions the history of Pag-Asa Island which Vietnam calls as the “Dao Thi Tu”. Pag-Asa Island is currently the largest occupied territory of the Philippines in the South China Sea (SCS), but as per Vietnam:

* In December 21, 1933, the Governor of the French Indochina (as Vietnam and nearby Territories were called then) then Jean-Félix Krautheimer signed Decree No. 4702-CP merging several islands including Dao Thi Tu (Pag-Asa) in the Spratlys into the Ba Ria province.

* In the early 1960s, several South Vietnamese Naval Ships visited the island and at one time even built Steel Structures there.

* Then in the early 1970s, as per the Vietnamese the Philippines went out to “secretly” occupy Dao Thi Tu (Pag-Asa) and other islands in the SCS, and since then Dao Thi Tu has been occupied by the Philippines.

Not mentioned in the report, but let mention it here now is the fact that Tomas Cloma, a Citizen of the Philippines, did land and claim Pag-Asa Island and other islands in the SCS in 1956, but he was not claiming them for the Philippines, he was claiming it for a new Micronation he was establishing which he called “Freedomland”. 

As we can see above, Vietnam’s claim of Pag-Asa being a part of the Province of Ba Ria was much earlier than Cloma’s claim since it happened in 1933.

What’s funny is that the Philippine Opposition and Press these days COMPLETELY ignore any of Vietnam’s overlapping claims with the Philippines, but very quick to jump on any similar overlapping claims made by China.

It’s as if the focus is only on China and not on any of the other countries which are claiming our territories. China is the main rival of the United States (US) right now, and focusing only on demonizing their rival seems to fit the kind of agenda they want the Philippines to do.

I am posting below the English Translation by Google Translate of the Vietnamese article:

*********************

China surrounded Thi Tu Island with more than 100 Ships of all kinds

by admin March 11, 2020

China surrounded Thi Tu Island with more than 100 ships, believed to have appeared near Thi Tu Island since the beginning of the year . According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper on Monday quoted Vice Admiral Rene Medina, commander of the Western Army Command of the Philippines (Wescom).

History of Tu Thi Island
On December 21, 1933, Cochinchine Governor Jean-Félix Krautheimer signed Decree No. 4702-CP to merge several main islands and dependent islands in the Spratly Islands into Ba Ria province, including Thi Island. Tu .

In the early 1960s, Navy ships of the Republic of Vietnam often visited Thi Tu Island, namely 1961, HQ-02 Van Kiep and HQ-06 Van Don, and in 1963, three ships, HQ-404 Huong Giang. , HQ-01 Chi Lang and HQ-09 Ki Hòa (erect a stele on Thi Tu island on May 22).

In the period 1970-1971, the Philippines secretly occupied the islands in Spratly Islands, including Thi Tu Island.

On March 5, 2019, Philippine officials said Chinese fishing boats forced Filipino fishermen to leave the shoals in the territorial waters of Thi Tu Island.

Thi Tu Island is an atoll in the Thi Tu cluster of the Spratly Islands. The island ranks second in the archipelago in terms of area. Thi Tu Island is subject to a dispute between Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines and China. The Philippines currently controls the island.

Since 2017, the Philippines has accused China of sending surveillance ships and fishing fleets to three emerging sand dunes near Thi Tu Island to prevent the Philippines from capturing these features.

On Thi Tu island, there is a 1,260 m long runway built in 1975 with the ability to receive large but degraded aircraft. In addition, there is a naval base, a pier, a health center, a school and a mobile communication tower.

China surrounded Thi Tu island
Vice Admiral Medina said Wescom tracked 136 Chinese fishing boats near Thi Tu Island between January 1.1 and February 25.

The Philippines has counted the hull number to calculate the above figure.

"Day 7.2 marks the largest number of Chinese fishing vessels, with a total of 76 vessels exposed to the western edge of the sandbar," according to Vice Admiral Medina.

Wescom also discovered two Chinese maritime vessels during this period, and one Chinese naval ship appeared in February.

In February last year, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS, USA) published a number of satellite images showing China's encirclement of Thi Island. Tu by deploying many naval ships, maritime vessels and fishing vessels around Thi Tu Island from July 7, 2018, when the Philippines conducted construction activities on the island.

SOURCES:
Trung Quoc bao vay dao Thị Tu voi hơn 100 tau cac loại
Tomas Cloma, the Modern Magellan of the Philippines, conquered Kalayaan Islands

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