copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Pamir Mountains is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pamir Mountains, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-02-27): Commentary - Beijing is concerned about a possible influx of Islamic radicals and drugs to western China. The character and type of the units stationed at the base is unclear. However, there is no doubt that one of their tasks is to prevent the illegal movement of people between Afghanistan and Xinjiang, China’s autonomous region inhabited by Muslim ethnic minorities. Since the collapse of the USSR, the People’s Republic of China has adopted a strategy of slowly and regularly building influence in the Central Asian region – from an economic presence through a political influence to security co-operation since 1996 as part of the Shanghai Five (which has been known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation since 2001). In 2016, China struck a military deal – the Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism – with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan aimed at cooperation in combating terrorism and improving security. As part of the deal, China is building more than ten guardhouses for Tajikistan on its border with Afghanistan in the Pamir Mountains and has undertaken to equip and train a mountain brigade of the Afghan army.
Claim: Pamir Mountains is a territory of People's Republic of China (Pamir Mountains, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2010-01-29): The Pamirs are the most famous mountain convergence zone in the world. It is the largest mountain convergence zone that was formed by the convergence of the Tianshan Mountains, the Kalakunlun Mountains, the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush Mountains and the Jierter-Sulaiman Mountains. It lies in the hinterland of Eurasia and extends across China, Tajikistan and Afghanistan with an area of more than 100,000 km2. The Pamir Mountains were created by crustal tectonics. About 60 million to 20 million years ago, the Indian continental plate subducted under the Eurasian plate and, with the effects of extrusion and uplift of the Indian plate, several huge mountains were formed. They spread from the south to the north of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and converged on the Pamirs. These mountains now radiate from the Pamirs and most of them are more than 4,000 m in height. Because of this, the Pamir Mountains are known as 'The Roof of the World'. There are suture lines resulting from the collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates, which occurred at the closure of the Paleo-Tethys period. The area is also an important tectonic transition zone and several tectonic boundaries converge in this area.
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-08): The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands (simplified Chinese: 西沙群岛; traditional Chinese: 西沙群島; pinyin: xīshā qúndǎo; lit. 'West Sand Archipelago')[2] and the Hoàng Sa Archipelago (Vietnamese: Quần đảo Hoàng Sa, lit. 'Yellow Sand Archipelago'), are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea under de facto administration by the People's Republic of China since its defeat of South Vietnam in the 1974 Battle of the Paracel Islands.
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-01-25): January 19 marks the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Paracel Islands, the first naval battle between China and Vietnam in the 20th century and a key conflict in the quest to control the South China Sea. This is also an occasion of reckoning on how the current Vietnamese government treats the history, legacy, and agency of the former Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), which controlled the Paracel Islands before 1974 and was the main combatant in that year’s battle. Even more important, Hanoi’s contemporary claims over the Paracel Islands rest on it being the rightful heir to pre-1975 Republic of Vietnam’s sovereignty. Although the Vietnamese government released a statement of protest against Chinese occupation of the Paracel Islands on the occasion, many writers saw Hanoi’s absence of official commemorations this year as well as its attempt to control and sometimes prevent unofficial ones held by the civil society in the past as an example of Hanoi’s abhorrence of the former South Vietnamese government and its subservience to China at the expense of Vietnam’s national sovereignty. Some of them did not shy away from condemning the Communist Party of Vietnam as cowards.
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-05-11): Paracel Islands is the name for a number of uninhabited atolls and reefs in the South China Sea. They are about 330 kilometres (210 mi) from Hainan and about 400 kilometres (250 mi) from Vietnam. Currently they are under the control of the People's Republic of China, but Taiwan and Vietnam also claim them. The islands are uninhabited.[1] The islands are located in the South China Sea consisting of over 30 islets, sandbanks and reefs with about 15,000 square kilometres (5,800 sq mi) of the ocean surface. The archipelago is approximately equidistant from the coastlines of Vietnam and China, 180 nautical miles (330 km; 210 mi) southeast of Hainan Island, and about one-third of the way from central Vietnam to the northern Philippines. Turtles live on the islands, and seabirds have left nests and guano deposits, but there are no permanent human residents except military personnel and fishermen.[2] [...] - ↑ Paracel Islands Population - Demographics
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-03): Both Vietnam and China say that the Paracels are mentioned in their ancient texts. The name Paracel, however, was adopted in the 16th century after Portuguese explorers named the islands "Ilhas do Pracel". "Pracel", or parcel, is a Portuguese term used by navigators to refer to a submerged bank or reef. France claimed the archipelago as part of the French Indochinese Union in the 19th century and put it under the same colonial administration as Vietnam's southern mainland, known at the time as Cochinchina. The Chinese nationalist Kuomintang, now one of the main political parties in Taiwan, claimed the Paracels as territory of the Republic of China in January 1921. [...] In 2012, China established Sansha City, headquartered on Woody Island, the largest Paracel island, which China calls Yongxing. The administrative headquarters is in charge of all of the features China claims in the South China Sea, including the Paracels and the Spratlys to the south.
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-10-24): By the Song dynasty, China maintained that it was naming and claiming territory in the island chains it calls Nansha (the Spratly Islands) and Xisha (the Paracel Islands). [...] In the 20 years since, China has reinforced the map with more concrete signs of its claim – building on rocks and islets and expanding its military facilities on these man-made outposts. It has also backed up its claims with ships from its coast guard, maritime militia and fishing fleets. [...] "In the 1970s and 1980s, China took over control of much of the Paracel Islands in the northern SCS [South China Sea] and Johnson South Reef in the Spratly Islands in the southeast quadrant of the SCS, both in Vietnam’s EEZ," the United States department of defence wrote.
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-05-17): - 3 September 1954, The People's Republic of China annexed the Yijiangshan Islands and Dachen Islands from the Republic of China during the First Taiwan Strait Crisis (Battle of Yijiangshan) even as the U.S. Seventh Fleet was patrolling nearby.[4] [...] - 19 January 1974, after the Battle of the Paracel Islands, China controls over the Paracel Islands and surrounding waters. See article: Battle of the Paracel Islands. [...] See also [edit]- Land reclamations of the People's Republic of China - Borders of China - Territorial disputes of the People's Republic of China
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-01-01): The Paracel Islands are surrounded by productive fishing grounds and by potential oil and gas reserves. In 1932, French Indochina annexed the islands and set up a weather station on Pattle Island; maintenance was continued by its successor, Vietnam. China has occupied all the Paracel Islands since 1974, when its troops seized a South Vietnamese garrison occupying the western islands. China built a military installation on Woody Island with an airfield and artificial harbor, and has scattered garrisons on some of the other islands. The Paracel islands also are claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam. [...] Military - note occupied by China, which is assessed to maintain 20 outposts in the Paracels (Antelope, Bombay, and North reefs; Drummond, Duncan, Lincoln, Middle, Money, North, Pattle, Quanfu, Robert, South, Tree, Triton, Woody, and Yagong islands; South Sand and West Sand; Observation Bank); the outposts range in size from one or two buildings to bases with significant military infrastructure; Woody Island is the main base in the Paracels and includes an airstrip with fighter aircraft hangers, naval facilities, surveillance radars, and defenses such as surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles; combat aircraft have deployed to the island (2023) Paracel Islands-China-Taiwan-Vietnam: occupied by China, also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-10-13): This incident is reported in a Note of May 6, 1921 from the Government General of Indochina (Directorate of Political and Indigenous Affairs). The text is more specific, reading as follows: "The mandarins protested, claiming that the Paracels were abandoned islands which belonged to China no more than to Annam, that they were not administratively attached to any district of Hainan and that no special authority was responsible for policing them." See No. 49 of August 8, 1899 from the Tsungli Yamen to Mr. Bax Ironside at Peking conveying the text of a communication received from the Governor-General of Liangkuang Provinces (i.e. Viceroy at Canton). It reads: "But on a wide expanse of ocean no particular coastguards can be said to be responsible, and how can the local authorities protect every spot in hundreds of miles of sea?" See P.A. Lapicque,A Propos des ilesParacels 605–616 (1929); Chemillier-Gendreau, supra note 6, at 36–37.
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-01-01): The Paracel Islands are surrounded by productive fishing grounds and potential oil and gas reserves. In 1932, French Indochina annexed the islands and set up a weather station on Pattle Island. China has occupied all the Paracel Islands since 1974, when its troops seized a South Vietnamese garrison occupying the western islands. China has built a military installation on Woody Island with an airfield and artificial harbor, and it has scattered garrisons on some of the other islands. Taiwan and Vietnam also claim the Paracel Islands. [...] Country name conventional long form: none conventional short form: Paracel Islands etymology: Portuguese navigators began to refer to the "Ilhas do Pracel" in the 16th century as a designation of low lying islets, sandbanks, and reefs scattered over a wide area; over time the name changed to "parcel" and then "paracel" Military - note occupied by China, which is assessed to maintain 20 outposts in the Paracels (Antelope, Bombay, and North reefs; Drummond, Duncan, Lincoln, Middle, Money, North, Pattle, Quanfu, Robert, South, Tree, Triton, Woody, and Yagong islands; South Sand and West Sand; Observation Bank); the outposts range in size from one or two buildings to bases with significant military infrastructure; Woody Island is the main base in the Paracels and includes an airstrip with fighter aircraft hangers, naval facilities, surveillance radars, and defenses such as surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles; combat aircraft have deployed to the island (2024)
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-08-29): Named by 16th century Portuguese mapmakers, the Paracels are a collection of 130 small coral islands and reefs in the northwestern part of the South China Sea. They support abundant marine life. But more than being just a rich fishing ground, there is speculation the islands could harbor potential energy reserves. [...] Since ousting the last Vietnamese troops from the Paracels in 1974, China has been steadily fortifying its claim to the islands putting military garrisons on them and building an airfield and artificial harbor on Woody Island. Earlier this summer, China deployed J-10 fighter jets to the island, a signal to the region that "it is their territory and they can put military aircraft there whenever they want," said Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center. [...] "The reality on the ground is that China has occupied the entire Paracel group for 40 years and, short of military action by Vietnam to recapture the archipelago, will never leave," CNA senior fellow Michael McDevitt wrote.
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-01-01): The Paracel Islands are surrounded by productive fishing grounds and by potential oil and gas reserves. In 1932, French Indochina annexed the islands and set up a weather station on Pattle Island; maintenance was continued by its successor, Vietnam. China has occupied all the Paracel Islands since 1974, when its troops seized a South Vietnamese garrison occupying the western islands. China built a military installation on Woody Island with an airfield and artificial harbor, and has scattered garrisons on some of the other islands. The Paracel islands also are claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam. [...] Country name conventional long form: none conventional short form: Paracel Islands etymology: Portuguese navigators began to refer to the "Ilhas do Pracel" in the 16th century as a designation of low lying islets, sandbanks, and reefs scattered over a wide area; over time the name changed to "parcel" and then "paracel" [...] Military - note occupied by China, which is assessed to maintain 20 outposts in the Paracels (Antelope, Bombay, and North reefs; Drummond, Duncan, Lincoln, Middle, Money, North, Pattle, Quanfu, Robert, South, Tree, Triton, Woody, and Yagong islands; South Sand and West Sand; Observation Bank); the outposts range in size from one or two buildings to bases with significant military infrastructure; Woody Island is the main base in the Paracels and includes an airstrip with fighter aircraft hangers, naval facilities, surveillance radars, and defenses such as surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles; fighter aircraft have deployed to the island (2021)
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-05-02): In 1996, China declared a series of straight baselines around the Paracel Islands from which its territorial sea should be measured. That not only extended Beijing’s territorial sea claim by asserting it should be measured from the grouping as a whole rather than from individual islands; more importantly, it declared all the space within the baselines China’s internal waters. As a result, Beijing insists that foreign vessels have no rights to transit through or fly over the waters between the Paracels, even if they are farther than 12 nautical miles from any individual island. This is the claim that the Albion and numerous U.S. FONOPs have challenged. [...] China has made no secret of its intention to eventually declare straight baselines around the rest of its claimed features in the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands. The 1996 baselines declaration ended with, "The Government of the People’s Republic of China will announce the remaining baselines of the territorial sea of the People’s Republic of China at another time." In its July 2016 White Paper rejecting the South China Sea arbitral ruling, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated that since 1958, its official policy has been to apply straight baselines to the "Dongsha Qundao [Pratas], Xisha Qundao [Paracels], Zhongsha Qundao [Scarborough Shoal and Macclesfield Bank], Nansha Qundao [Spratlys] and all the other islands belonging to China."
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-02): Vietnam [edit]China and Vietnam have an ongoing territorial dispute over the Paracel Islands. The islands are claimed by Vietnam but administered by China.[23] South China Sea [edit]The PRC and ROC claimed sovereignty over an area surrounding shoals and islands in the South China Sea, as well as a historical right over the area within the nine-dash line.[35] In 1932, China sent a Note Verbale to France, declaring that China's southernmost territory was the Paracels.[36][37][38] In 1933, when France occupied six features in the Spratlys, China did not protest as it recognized the year before that its southernmost territory was limited to the Paracels.[36][37][38] [...] In 1974, China and South Vietnam fought the Battle of the Paracel Islands.[2]: 254 China took a defensive posture, directing its forces "not to fire the first shot; fight back when attacked".[2]: 254 The battle was relatively brief and China defeated South Vietnam.[2]: 254 China moved quickly to consolidate its position in the area and has maintained control of the Paracel Islands since.[2]: 254
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-04-21): What legal effect, if any, will these projects have on the broader Spratly Islands and South China Sea territorial and maritime disputes? China claims "indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and the adjacent waters and jurisdiction over the relevant waters as well as the seabed and subsoil thereof," consistent with its maps showing nine line segments encircling most of the South China Sea and almost all of the Spratly Islands, the so-called 'nine-dash' line. China's latest lawfare approach involves shifting away from the (universally not recognized) "nine-dash line" claim to a narrower "Four shas (4S)" (Chinese for four sands) claim that more tightly connects the four contested island groups of Pratas Islands, Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands, and Macclesfield Bank. Beijing seemingly now wants to make the legal and diplomatic case that the "Four shas" are China’s historical territorial waters, and part of its extended continental shelf and 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) — despite not offering any new substantive legal arguments or historical evidence to back up the new claim.
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-07-02): The Department of Defense is concerned about the People’s Republic of China (PRC) decision to conduct military exercises around the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on July 1-5. [...] The military exercises are the latest in a long string of PRC actions to assert unlawful maritime claims and disadvantage its Southeast Asian neighbors in the South China Sea. The PRC’s actions stand in contrast to its pledge to not militarize the South China Sea and the United States' vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, in which all nations, large and small, are secure in their sovereignty, free from coercion, and able to pursue economic growth consistent with accepted international rules and norms. The Department of Defense will continue to monitor the situation with the expectation that the PRC will reduce its militarization and coercion of its neighbors in the South China Sea. We urge all parties to exercise restraint and not undertake military activities that might aggravate disputes in the South China Sea.
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-09): It is commonly believed that European sailors passing Taiwan record the island’s name as Ilha Formosa, or beautiful island. [...] Following the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan signed by 48 Allied nations on behalf of the United Nations, the Treaty of Peace is signed between the ROC and Japan at Taipei Guest House, formally ending the state of war between the two parties. It is recognized that under Article 2 of the San Francisco Treaty, Japan has renounced all right, title, and claim to Taiwan (Formosa) and Penghu (the Pescadores) as well as the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands. All treaties, conventions and agreements concluded before Dec. 9, 1941, between China and Japan become null and void as a consequence of the war. [...] The ROC inks the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China to institutionalize economic and trade relations across the Taiwan Strait.
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-11-05): Declaration under articles 287 and 298: [...] Declaration under article 298, paragraph 1: [...] Declaration pursuant to article 298, paragraph 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea:
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-07-13): 33. In August 1951, Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai, in his Statement on the United States-British Draft Peace Treaty with Japan and the San Francisco Conference, pointed out that "as a matter of fact, just like all the Nan Sha Islands, Chung Sha Islands and Tung Sha Islands, Si Sha Islands (the Paracel Islands) and Nan Wei Island (Spratly Island) have always been China’s territory, occupied by Japan for some time during the war of aggression waged by Japanese imperialism, they were all taken over by the then Chinese Government, following Japan’s surrender", "Whether or not the United States-British Draft Treaty contains provisions on this subject and no matter how these provisions are worded, the inviolable sovereignty of the People’s Republic of China over Nan Wei Island (Spratly Island) and Si Sha Islands (the Paracel Islands) will not be in any way affected." [...] 52. It was reported by AFP that, on 4 February 1974, the then Indonesian Foreign Minister Adam Malik stated that, "si nous regardons les cartes actuelles, elles montrent que les deux archipels des Paracels [Xisha Qundao] et des Spratleys [Nansha Qundao] appartiennent à la Chine", and that because we recognize the existence of only one China, "cela signifie que, pour nous, ces archipels appartiennent à la République populaire de Chine".
Claim: Paracel Islands is a territory of People's Republic of China (Paracel Islands, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-06-04): - Imposition of PRC (enforcement) jurisdiction over water and air space surrounding disputed territories (e.g., Kinmen Island, Paracel Islands) [...] Finally, the intensity and efficacy of PRC gray zone activity has increased over the past decade. Access to well-positioned operating bases at Mischief Reef, Fiery Cross Reef, and Subi Reef allows China to employ the superior mass of their constabulary and fishing fleets and remain permanently on station in remote waters. Meanwhile, modernization and expansion of China’s coast guard enables PRC law enforcement across the East Asian littoral, creating the permissive conditions for regularized PRC presence in the disputed territorial waters of the Senkaku Islands as well as the far reaches of the SCS. [...] 3 Vietnam is the sole disputant over the Paracel Islands, which have been excluded from the COC process.