A: I watched the press conference held by Vietnam's Foreign Ministry last Friday. I find it absurd and ridiculous.

There is plenty historical evidence to show that the Xisha Islands, which was first discovered, named and explored by the Chinese people, is an integral part of China's territory. The Chinese people are the indisputable owner of the Xisha Islands. As early as 2 century B.C., during the Han Dynasty, Chinese ships had sailed into the South China Sea and discovered the Xisha Islands. Since then, groups after groups of Chinese people came to the islands and carried out exploration activities. Historical records show that since the Tang and Song Dynasties, the Chinese had started fishing activities in the Xisha Islands. Patrols by the naval ships of the Northern Song Dynasty around the Xisha Islands indicate that China already exercised effective administration of those islands by that time. Guo Shoujing, a famous astronomer of the Yuan Dynasty, set up an astronomical observing site in the Xisha Islands, which is another proof that the Xisha Islands have always been within China's territory.

Before mid 1970s, the Vietnamese side had publicly and officially acknowledged that the Xisha Islands belong to China. In 1956, leading officials of the Foreign Ministry of Vietnam made it clear to the charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam that the Xisha Islands are China's. In 1958, the Chinese government announced that the territorial sea of the People's Republic of China is 12 nautical miles wide, and explicitly pointed out that this rule applied to every inch of China's territory, including the Xisha Islands. Ten days after the announcement, the then Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Van Dong sent a note to Premier Zhou Enlai and expressed that the Vietnamese government acknowledged and respected the Chinese government's announcement on territorial sea. For a long time, the official documents, textbooks and maps of Vietnam showed that the Xisha Islands belong to China.

However, after 1975, the Vietnamese side abandoned all its previous commitments and started to put forward sovereign claims to those islands. At last Friday's press conference by the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, remarks made by the Vietnamese side once again showed that this country bent history, denied facts, and went back on its words. This country has a low rating of credibility.

I want to stress here for one more time that the resolve of the Chinese government and people in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity is unshakable.