Paracel Islands

The Paracel Islands, also known as Xisha in Chinese and Hoàng Sa in Vietnamese, is a group of islands, reefs, banks and other maritime features in the South China Sea. It is controlled (and occupied) by the People's Republic of China, and also claimed by Taiwan (Republic of China) and Vietnam.

The archipelago includes about 130 small coral islands and reefs, most grouped into the northeast Amphitrite Group or the western Crescent Group. They are distributed over a maritime area of around 15,000 square kilometres (5,800 sq mi), with a land area of approximately 7.75 square kilometres (2.99 sq mi). The archipelago is approximately equidistant from the coastlines of China (PRC) and Vietnam; and approximately about one-third of the way from central Vietnam to the northern Philippines.

Forces of the Republic of China (RoC) landed on Woody Island in the Amphitrite Group in November 1946 and abandoned it in May 1950. The Amphitrite islands were then unoccupied until forces of the People's Republic of China landed there in late 1955. French and 'Annamite' forces landed on Pattle Island in the Crescent Group in January 1947. After independence forces from South Vietnam took over the positions until the Battle of the Paracel Islands in January 1974. South Vietnam's claim to the islands was inherited by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which has ruled all of Vietnam since 1976. In July 2012, China (PRC) established the city of Sansha, under Hainan Province, to administer the area.