copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-07-02): The Spratly Islands and Territorial Rights [...] The Spratly Islands area (Fig. 1) is located between 11°30′ to 4° N and 109°30′ to 117°50′ E and spreads out over a vast area of ocean measuring 240,000 km2, roughly equivalent to the size of the United Kingdom (UK) (Dzurek 1996). It is clustered in a semiclosed sea, namely the South China Sea, in the shape of a parallelogram between the Philippine island of Palawan and the southeast coast of Vietnam (Denoon and Brams 1997). There are at least 19 islands (above water at high tides) within the meaning of Article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that can undoubtedly be acquired as territory under international law, as confirmed in the 2016 South China Sea Arbitration (The Republic of Philippines v. The People’s Republic of China) award (PCA 2016). These islands are Itu Aba Island, Thitu Island, West York... [...] Republic of Vietnam (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) (1975) White Paper on the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands. Retrieved from: http://nghiencuubiendong.vn/download/doc_download/132-white-paper-on-the-hoang-sa-paracel-and-truong-sa-spratly-islands-part-1
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-09-16): The secret hydrographic research during the 1930s allowed naval authorities from different countries to understand this vast maritime territory as an archipelago crossed by secret sea-lanes. The Spratly Islands, long perceived as an area to avoid, were reinterpreted as strategic territory from which a maritime power could control the sea-lanes of the South China Sea. During the Second World War, U.S. submarines based in Australia patrolled the South China Sea and regularly crossed the Dangerous Ground using these internal sea-lanes. They also pursued scientific research around the Spratlys, notably to study layers of high density salt in the water which allowed the American submarines to escape detection by Japanese sonar. [...] The maritime space of the Dangerous Ground is structured by internal sea-lanes, with two main axes (north-south and east-west). The choice of which Spratlys to occupy seems to have followed the logic of control of these internal sea-lanes. Thus, after Taiwan occupied the main island of Itu Aba in 1956, Vietnamese forces garrisoned islands and reefs which control the western entrance of the east-west sea-lane. The Philippines, at the end of the 1960’s, favored control of the northern part of the north-south sea-lane.
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-05-09): The APMSS map also indicates that Vietnam has 14 more outposts in the Spratly Islands. Comparing the map with what exists on the ground – or, if you prefer, the water – we can see that they are the 14 lookout structures (nha gian in Vietnamese) that Vietnam is operating on six underwater banks located southwest of the Spratly Islands. Vietnam started to set up permanent structures on Vanguard Bank (Vietnamese: Bai Tu Chinh), Rifleman Bank (Bai Vung May), and Prince of Wales Bank (Bai Phuc Tan) in 1989, on Prince Consort Bank (Bai Phuc Nguyen) in 1990, and on Grainger Bank (Bai Que Duong) and Alexandra Bank (Bai Huyen Tran) in 1991. These platforms measure between 100 and 250 square meters each, and stand on shallow elevations lying between seven and 25 meters below the sea surface. Whether these shoals form part of the Spratly Islands is a matter of debate. China’s maps group them together with the Spratlys proper while treating them as if they were landforms above water. As a result, the Chinese numbers of the Vietnamese-occupied features in the Spratly Islands range typically between 27 and 30. Vietnam argues that as the shoals lie deep under water and within 200 nautical miles (nm) from the Vietnamese baselines, they belong to Vietnam’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as stipulated in Article 76 of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). According to UNCLOS, submarine features cannot be appropriated by occupation or otherwise.
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-06-07): Vietnam has significantly accelerated the expansion of its outposts in the Spratly Islands over the last six months, creating almost as much new land as it had in the previous two years combined and putting Hanoi on pace for a record year of island building in 2024. [...] The feature now measures 4,318 meters in length, which makes it the only Vietnamese outpost so far with the potential to host a 3,000-meter runway like those that China has at Fiery Cross, Mischief, and Subi Reefs. Currently, Vietnam’s only airstrip in the Spratly Islands is a 1,300-meter runway on the eponymous Spratly Island. While that runway is large enough for most Vietnamese military aircraft, a 3,000-meter runway would be required for larger military transport, surveillance, or bomber aircraft to take off and land. [...] Trenches and coastal defense emplacements typical of Vietnam’s Spratly outposts can be seen underway at several features. And temporary helipads have appeared across many of the expanding features, including Discovery Great Reef, Ladd Reef, Tennent Reef, and South Reef.
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-09): Financial market analysis and financial data for major energy companies. [...] State energy information, including overviews, rankings, data, and analyses. [...] Reports requested by congress or otherwise deemed important.
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-03-14): The Spratly Islands are a disputed group of 14 islands, islets and cays and more than 100 reefs, sometimes grouped in submerged old atolls. The archipelago lies off the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia and southern Vietnam. The islands have no indigenous inhabitants, but offer rich fishing grounds and may contain significant oil and natural gas reserves. Some of the islands have civilian settlements, but of the approximately 45 islands, cays, reefs and shoals that are occupied, all contain structures that are occupied by military forces from Malaysia, Taiwan, China, the Philippines and Vietnam. Additionally, Brunei has claimed an exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-07-28): Alexander L. Vuving is a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii. The views expressed in this article are his own. Vietnam has earned the silver medal in the contest for land reclamation in the South China Sea.
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-09): Viet Nam faces the Eastern Sea to the East and the Gulf of Thailand to the South and Southwest. The country has a long coastline of 3,260 km running from Mong Cai in the North to Ha Tien in the Southwest. Viet Nam’s territorial waters in the Eastern Sea extend to the East and Southeast, including the continental shelf, islands and archipelagoes. There is a group of around 3,000 islets belonging to Viet Nam in the Tonkin Gulf, including Ha Long Bay, Bai Tu Long Bay, Cat Hai, Cat Ba and Bach Long Vi Island. Farther in the Eastern Sea are Hoang Sa Archipelago (Paracel Islands) and Truong Sa Archipelago (Spratly Islands). To the West and the Southwest, there are groups of islands including Con Son, Phu Quoc and Tho Chu.
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-07-29): The island Vietnam has developed the most is Barque Canada Reef. As of June 2022, it was an atoll with small strips of land in the northwest and southeast. By that November, both sides had expanded considerably, with CSIS estimating the atoll had grown by 0.8 square kilometers. This made it the largest reef under Vietnamese control in the South China Sea. [...] A spokesperson for Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed the validity of its activities in the South China Sea at a press conference last month. Pham Thu Hang said there is sufficient historical evidence to support Vietnam's sovereignty over the reefs, adding the activities are completely legal under international law. [...] The Vietnamese government has been conducting tours to parts of the Spratly Islands it effectively controls for the past decade.
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-06-29): Vietnam is fast-tracking its artificial island projects in the disputed South China Sea, a move that aims to counter the People’s Republic of China (PRC), analysts say. By dredging the seabed and piling the material atop reefs in the Spratly Islands, Hanoi added more than 280 hectares of land between November 2023 and June 2024, reported the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. It’s more land than Vietnam created in the previous two years combined. [...] In defiance of international law and a 2016 international tribunal ruling, the PRC claims most of the South China Sea, including the Spratlys, a group of more than 100 strategic islets and reefs surrounded by rich fisheries and potential oil and gas deposits. The archipelago is about midway between the Philippines and Vietnam, hundreds of kilometers from the PRC mainland. The PRC’s Spratly Islands claim overlaps not only with Vietnam’s but also with those of Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-09-17): China’s sweeping claims of sovereignty over the sea—and the sea’s estimated 11 billion barrels of untapped oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas—have antagonized competing claimants Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. As early as the 1970s, countries began to claim islands and various zones in the South China Sea, such as the Spratly Islands, which possess rich natural resources and fishing areas. The failure of Chinese and Southeast Asian leaders to resolve the disputes diplomatically could undermine international laws governing maritime disputes and encourage destabilizing arms buildups. [...] Upon assuming office in June 2022, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. rejected the conciliatory stance toward China adopted by his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte. The Philippines’ most contentious disputes with China center on the Second Thomas Shoal of the Spratly Islands, which lies within the Philippines’ 200-mile EEZ. In 1999, the Philippines intentionally grounded a ship to reinforce its territorial claims to the area which it calls the West Philippine Sea. Since then, the Philippine Coast Guard has conducted monthly resupply missions to its military contingent on the ship, known as the BRP Sierra Madre. Chinese Coast Guard vessels began to employ dangerous tactics to harass Philippine resupply missions in 2023, leading to heightened clashes. Collisions have become increasingly common, and the Chinese Coast Guard has used a military-grade laser and repeatedly fired water cannons against Philippine ships. On June 17, a Chinese vessel and a Philippine supply ship collided near the Second Thomas Shoal; both sides blamed the other for the incident.
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-09-29): Spratly Islands, large group of reefs, shoals, atolls, and small islets in the South China Sea of the Pacific Ocean. They are located north of insular Malaysia and are roughly midway between Vietnam and the Philippines, and they are claimed—wholly or in part—by several countries in the region. [...] By the late 20th century, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Malaysia (with its occupation of Turumbu Layang-Layang reef [June 1983]), and the Philippines all had conflicting claims to the Spratlys, supported (except, initially, in the case of China) by garrisons on various islands. Although Brunei did not claim any territory in the Spratlys, it did declare an EEZ that contained a Spratly reef. The United States, which has been the dominant presence in the Pacific region for most of the period since the early 20th century, has not recognized the claims of any country on the Spratlys, insisting instead that the Spratlys are in international waters.
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-07-15): Backgrounder by Lindsay Maizland January 31, 2022 - [...] Webinar with Carolyn Kissane and Irina A. Faskianos April 12, 2023 -
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-08-15): Vietnam claims the Paracel Islands (known as Hoang Sa in Vietnamese), which are also claimed by both China and Taiwan (and are known as the Xisha in Chinese), while China exercises control over the islands. Vietnam further claims the entirety of the Spratly Islands (known as Truong Sa in Vietnamese), as do China and Taiwan (which refer to them as Nansha). Malaysia, the Philippines, and Brunei also claim parts of the Spratlys. In the Spralty Islands, Vietnam currently occupies 25 features. [...] – Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, 2014 "Vietnam has sufficient historical and legal evidence proving our sovereignty over Hoang Sa [Paracel] and Truong Sa [Spratly] archipelagos, and the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in line with international law. We are determined to protect every inch of our land or sea from violation. For every Vietnamese, national territorial sovereignty is sacred and sacrosanct." [...] 1971/1973: North Vietnam proclaimed the Spratly Islands to be Vietnamese territory.
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-06-27): Since November last year, Vietnam has accelerated the expansion of its outposts in the Spratly Islands, according to a report published earlier this month by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, or AMTI, at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. [...] Vietnam and the Philippines have been locked in a decadeslong territorial dispute with China over the South China Sea and its islands despite a ruling in 2016 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that dismissed China’s claim to most of the sea. That claim infringes on the exclusive economic zones of several coastal states. [...] Hanoi and Manila have overlapping claims to features in the Spratly chain, but incidents between the two countries have been rare, while bilateral ties were strengthened during President Ferdinand Marcos’ state visit to Hanoi earlier this year. The two countries agreed to increase coast guard cooperation.
Claim: Spratly Islands is a territory of Vietnam (Spratly Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-12-15): I would like to propose a discussion on this matter, sharing that, based on the information I have, the Paracel and Spratly Islands are territories under the sovereignty of Vietnam. I have researched from [Geofabrik Download Server] and would like others to share their opinions and knowledge on this issue. [...] The ownership of the islands remains hotly contested. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) on Mainland China, Vietnam, and the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan all claim de jure sovereignty, although the PRC has had de facto control of the archipelago since the Battle of the Paracel Islands in January 1974. About the Spratly Islands, Wikipedia: Spratly Islands offers much information about conflicting claims, including a table that lists 18 islands, and which country currently occupies each, so there is much to sort out there.
Claim: Taiwan is a territory of People's Republic of China (Taiwan, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-04): The political and legal statuses of Taiwan are contentious issues. The People's Republic of China (PRC) claims that Taiwan is Chinese territory and that the PRC replaced the ROC government in 1949, becoming the sole legal government of China.[81] The ROC, however, has its own currency, widely accepted passport, postage stamps, internet TLD, armed forces and constitution with an independently elected president.[329] It has not formally renounced its claim to the mainland, but ROC government publications have increasingly downplayed this historical claim.[330] [...] As we have already said, Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory and, after replacing the government of the Republic of China in 1949, the government of the PRC has become the sole legal government of China, enjoying and exercising sovereignty over the whole of China, including Taiwan.
Claim: Taiwan is a territory of People's Republic of China (Taiwan, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-09): Known to the Chinese as early as the 7th century, the island of Taiwan was widely settled by them early in the 17th century. In 1646 the Dutch seized control of the island, only to be ousted in 1661 by a large influx of Chinese refugees, supporters of the Ming dynasty. Taiwan fell to the Manchu in 1683 and was not open to Europeans again until 1858. In 1895 it was ceded to Japan following the first Sino-Japanese War. A Japanese military centre in World War II, it was frequently bombed by U.S. planes. After Japan’s defeat it was returned to China, which was then governed by the Nationalists. When the communists took over mainland China in 1949, the Nationalist Party government fled to Taiwan and made it their seat of government, with Gen. Chiang Kai-shek as president. Since then, both the Nationalist government and the People’s Republic of China (mainland China) have considered Taiwan a province of China. In 1954 Chiang and the U.S. signed a mutual defense treaty, and Taiwan received U.S. support for almost three decades, developing its economy in spectacular fashion.
Claim: Taiwan is a territory of People's Republic of China (Taiwan, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-05-12): For years, the ROC planned to take back the mainland from its new base in Taiwan. Meanwhile, the PRC swore to reclaim Taiwan as an integral part of its territory. Through the 1950s and into the 1960s, there were military skirmishes between the two, particularly around the small Taiwanese islands that lie close to the mainland. But while the ROC eventually gave up on its ambitions, the PRC did not — hence the current conflict. As far as Beijing is concerned, Taiwan is a province of China that’s pretending to be independent and needs to be brought back into the fold. [...] Although China sees Taiwan as an integral part of its territory, Taiwan was actually only incorporated into China during the Qing dynasty, which lasted from 1644 to 1911, and even then the Qing didn’t control all of Taiwan. Indications are that the Qing dynasty didn’t consider Taiwan a particularly important possession. Instead, Taiwan was viewed as a hinterland occupied by strange savages. [...] But while the CCP now emphasizes Taiwan as being a part of China, Mao Zedong suggested as late as 1972 that the CCP was willing to set aside the Taiwan question for 100 years or more. Yet staking claims over Taiwan may have to do with the CCP’s ambitions to expand power outward into the Asia Pacific, with Taiwan occupying a significant geostrategic position for projecting maritime power.
Claim: Taiwan is a territory of People's Republic of China (Taiwan, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-09-30): Taiwan became part of the Republic of China on October 25, 1945, which has been celebrated since then as Retrocession Day. However, Taiwan was not made a standard province of China at that time, as most people on the island had expected. Moreover, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Ch’en Yi (Ch’en I) governor-general of the island, with powers similar to those that had been exercised by the Japanese military governors. Finally, Japanese officials, administrators, and technicians departed, leaving a vacuum that was not easy to fill. Taiwan’s economy, which had become linked to Japan’s, had to be reorganized. Japanese law, customs, and much more were to be replaced.
Claim: Taiwan is a territory of People's Republic of China (Taiwan, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-11-28): To correct some popular misunderstandings and to more effectively counter the PRC’s disinformation on Taiwan’s history and status, this article argues that: (1) Historically speaking, Taiwan has never been a part of "China"; and (2) legally speaking, both the Republic of China (ROC; 1912–1949) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC; 1949–present) have never acquired territorial sovereignty over Taiwan. [...] Contrary to the PRC’s claim that "Taiwan has belonged to China since ancient times," Taiwan’s indigenous peoples have inhabited the island for at least six thousand years, with various political entities exercising control over parts of it until colonial powers conquered increasingly large portions of Taiwan beginning in the 17th century. [...] Despite the CCP not regarding Taiwan as a part of China’s national territory until 1942, and even supporting Taiwan independence, and despite the PRC in 1971 worrying that UNGA Resolution 2758 would leave Taiwan’s status undetermined in the UN, the PRC went on to fabricate its historical and sovereignty claims over Taiwan regardless. Those claims are simply lies.
Claim: Taiwan is a territory of People's Republic of China (Taiwan, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-10-16): But Mao still sought control over his enemy’s territory, declaring, "Taiwan is ours, and we will never compromise on this issue, which is an issue of internal affairs." To this day, the government of the People’s Republic of China, whose capital is Beijing, considers Taiwan part of its "sacred territory." The constitution of the People’s Republic of China states that "(i)t is the lofty duty of the entire Chinese people, including our compatriots in Taiwan, to accomplish the great task of reunifying the motherland." Its foreign affairs ministry says, "Taiwan is a sacred and inseparable part of China’s territory." On Oct. 2, 2023, the Beijing government celebrated its national day by releasing a video signifying its focus on unity with the people of Taiwan. In contrast, the Republic of China refers to the area under its control as "the Taiwan area," or "the free area." It refers to the rest of China as "the mainland area," which the Taiwanese government has described as being under a "Period of Communist Rebellion."
Claim: Taiwan is a territory of People's Republic of China (Taiwan, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-01-10): Chiang fled China in 1949, escaping impending defeat in the civil war at the hands of Mao Zedong's communist forces. He came to Taiwan, which became the Republic of China and remains so to this day. The mainland, ruled by Mao and the Chinese Communist Party, became the People's Republic of China. Both claimed the other's territory. Neither Chiang, nor Mao, conceived of Taiwan as a separate place with a separate people. But that is what it has become. [...] Despite his seven decades in Taiwan, Fan says he never stopped feeling Chinese: "When we came here our country did not perish; we are still the Republic of China. Taiwan is a province, one of the smallest of more than 30 provinces." [...] He dismisses Beijing's claims that Taiwan is part of China because they share a common culture and language.
Claim: Taiwan is a territory of People's Republic of China (Taiwan, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-07-10): A short history of Taiwan and China, in maps The Chinese Communist Party’s obsession with the island is about more than just territory JUST 12 STATES recognise Taiwan’s government. Others all have relations with the Chinese government in Beijing, and so at least tacitly accept its argument that there is only one China, of which Taiwan is a part. To refer to Taiwan they use purposely vague language, such as "self-governing island". Even the Taiwanese tread carefully around the subject of their independence—after all, China has warned that a declaration of independence would be grounds for invasion. Our eight maps below explain the foundation of Taiwan and its changing relationship with the mainland.