Facts prove China's historic rights in the South China Sea

Editor's note: Hou Yi, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is the director at the China Marine History Research Office in the Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

China's sovereignty and historic rights in the South China Sea are based on its long-term history of management and administration of the islands in the sea and the adjacent waters. They are also consistent with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Successive dynasties or governments since the Tang Dynasty (618-907) effectively controlled and administered the South China Sea islands and the related waters. Successive Chinese governments asserted sovereignty over the islands and reefs within the nine-dash line of the South China Sea, as well as developed and managed resources within the line, which constituted exclusive rights to the waters of the South China Sea.

The Chinese have long engaged in fishing and other productive activities in the South China Sea, which is an important waterway for Chinese ships. Since the Han Dynasty (202BC-220AD), they began to make use of the resources of the sea, passing through it. These practices constitute the basic facts of China's long-term administration and passage in the South China Sea.

The sovereignty has also been recognized by other countries. For a long time after World War II, Vietnam, the Philippines and other neighboring countries did not object to China's sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and the nine-dash line. Many other countries and international organizations also recognized or acquiesced to it. This is supported by a large number of foreign official documents and publications, as well as government archives, including those of Vietnam, the Philippines, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese government has exercised sovereignty and jurisdiction over the South China Sea by issuing government documents and diplomatic statements, promulgating domestic laws, asserting sovereignty over the South China Sea with abundant evidence.

On the other hand, as an illegal claimant in the South China Sea dispute, the Philippines' position has been based on a completely wrong foundation from the beginning. The information provided by the Philippines on the islands and reefs and its claims are full of false information and false descriptions, and there are many inconsistent and self-contradictory statements. The Philippines had never raised territorial claims on the Nansha Islands before the 1970s.

The nine-dash line, a heritage, is frequently questioned and attacked by the Philippines. In China, the drawing of dotted lines in the South China Sea began in the early 20th century. At that time, the maps compiled by private individuals first used dotted or continuous lines to show China's territory scope in the sea.

In the 1930s, the government of the Republic of China began to standardize and manage map publishing. They established the Land and Waters Map Review Committee to examine the maps. In January 1935, the committee published the Map of Islands in the South China Sea, standardizing the names of 132 islands, reefs, sands and beaches. This was the first case of the Chinese government officially mapping the South China Sea islands in modern history.

After World War II, in accordance with the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation and other international legal documents, China resumed the exercise of sovereignty of islands in the South China Sea. In February 1948, the Interior Ministry of the Republic of China publicly issued the Location Map of South China Sea Islands. It was the first time that the Chinese government drew a U-shaped line in the South China Sea on an officially published map, demonstrating to the international community its sovereignty over the sea.

After 1949, the new Chinese government inherited this line and made appropriate adjustments to make it the nine-dash line we know today.

From then until the 1970s, the neighboring countries, including the Philippines, and the international community did not raise any objections to China's territorial sovereignty.

All official maps published by China after 1949 show this line, which clearly defines China's territorial sovereignty over the South China Sea islands within the line and its historic rights in the waters within the line.

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