PRESS RELEASE

Demonstration against Chinese take-over of Vietnamese archipelagoes

and the Vietnamese Communist regime’s collusion

Ottawa, Saturday December 22, 2007

The Vietnamese Canadian Federation, in collaboration with the Vietnamese Human Rights Association of Ontario, and the Vietnamese communities in Quebec and Ontario, will hold a demonstration in front of the embassies of China (515 St. Patrick St.) and Vietnam (470 Wilbrod St.) in Ottawa, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., on Saturday, December 22, 2007, to protest against the take-over of the Vietnamese archipelagoes of Hoang Sa (Paracel Islands) and Truong Sa (Spratly Islands) by the Chinese government with the collusion of the Vietnamese Communist government. 

On December 2, 2007, the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), once again, encroached upon the sovereignty of Vietnam by establishing the City of Sansha within the Province of Hainan to administer a number of islands, including Truong Sa (Nansha in Chinese) and Hoang Sa (Xisha in Chinese), two groups of Vietnamese islands in the South China Sea.  This action is the culmination of a chain of brazen maneuvers taken by the PRC to gradually take away Vietnamese territory at sea. 

Specifically, the PRC:

- sent its navy on January 19, 1974 to take over Hoang Sa from the former Republic of Vietnam;

- took over Truong Sa on March 14, 1988;

- annexed Truong Sa and Hoang Sa to the Province of Hainan on April 14, 1988;

- annexed the historical Nam Quan Pass and the Ban Gioc Falls in North Vietnam with the collusion of the Vietnamese Communist Party in 2000.

We hold the Vietnamese Communist regime responsible for the losses of Vietnam’s territorial sovereignty to the PRC, as shown by the following historical facts:

-  On September 14, 1958, Vietnamese Communist Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, in an official correspondence with the PRC’s government, “recognized and agreed with the government of the People’s Republic of China’s announcement on September 4, 1958, defining the territorial waters of China” (to include the Spratly and Paracel Archipelagoes);

-  The Vietnamese Communist government remained silent when the PRC took over Hoang Sa (Paracel Islands) after a battle with the navy of the former Republic of Vietnam on January 19, 1974;

- The Vietnamese Communist Party, secretly signed in 1999 an agreement with the Chinese government to cede Vietnam’s sovereignty over the historical Nam Quan Pass, the Ban Gioc Falls in North Vietnam, and a substantial portion of the Vietnamese territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin.

In view of the above developments, 99 Vietnamese organizations all over the world, have voiced their utmost indignation  over the Chinese world hegemony strategy and the Vietnamese Communist Party’s acquiescence.

The Vietnamese community in Canada hereby:

-  condemns the PRC’s world hegemony strategy as evidenced by the use of brute force to take over the territories of its neighbours;

-   strongly rejects the PRC’s claim of sovereignty over the Truong Sa and Hoang Sa Archipelagoes;

- denounces the collusion of the Vietnamese Communist regime in ceding Vietnamese territories to China;

-  support the spontaneous demonstrations by Vietnamese youth and students in Saigon and Hanoi to protest against the PRC’s actions.

-  calls upon all peace-loving and justice-upholding countries in the world to press the PRC to return these islands to Vietnam.

-30-

For immediate delivery

December 21, 2007