CHINA’s claim to more than 80% of the South China Sea, which includes overlapping claims with the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Vietnam, took another hit recently when Dr. Tran Duc Anh Son, a Vietnamese historian and Deputy Director at the Da Nang institute for Socio-Economic Development, visited Yale University in New Haven, Ct.
A report in Forbes said that Vietnamese historian and Deputy Director at the Da Nang Institute for socio-Economic Development, Dr Tran Duc Anh, found two collections of maps at Yale University in the United States which showed these islands were not a part of China in earlier days.
The first collection, around 200 maps, was named Qianlong’s map in thirteen rows, and dated 1760.
The Forbes report said the maps illustrated in detail all the territories that belonged to China under the rule of the Qianlong emperor (1735-1796). The territories stretched from mainland china to islands and surrounding waters, but none of the maps neither drew nor mentioned the Nansha Islands or Xisha Islands, the names given by China for the Spratlys and Paracels.
The second collection that Dr. Son found at the library was The Atlas Von China (The Atlas of China). It consists of two parts published in 1885 by Dietrich Reimer publishing house, a Berlin-based publisher.
The report said although it might seem unusual for a German publisher to print maps of 19th century China, it must be noted that Sino-German relations were formally established in 1861.
According to Son, the Chinese government’s inclusion of most waters and islands of neighboring countries inside their imaginary line, and thereby their claim that the area “is part of the longstanding sovereignty” of China, is historically false. (Eagle News)