Paracel Islands

The Paracel Islands, also called Xisha Islands (西沙群岛) in Chinese and Hoàng Sa Islands (Quần đảo Hoàng Sa) in Vietnamese, is a group of islands where the sovereignty is disputed by the People's Republic of China (PRC), Republic of China (Taiwan) and Vietnam. All of the islands are currently under the administration of Hainan Province of the PRC, which, in July 2012, established Sansha City covering the islands as one of the three townships of the city. Chinese and South Vietnamese forces both occupied parts of the Paracel Islands before 1974, when the Battle of the Paracel Islands occurred, after which the former took over and controlled all of the Paracels.

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.

The islands are divided into two main groups. The Amphitrite group is in the northeast and the Crescent group is in the southwest, and they are located about 70 km (43 mi) from one another. Subject to hot and humid climate, with abundant rainfall and frequent typhoons, the archipelago is surrounded by productive fishing grounds and potential oil and gas reserves.