DA NANG (VNS)— The Da Nang Institute for Socio-economic Development (DISD) has unveiled more documents affirming Viet Nam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes.

Donated by Chairman of the US-based Institute for Vietnamese Culture and Education Tran Thang, the documents include 43 ancient maps and a book entitled "The Postal Atlas of China" published in Nanjing in 1919.

Last November, Thang gave the DISD and the People's Committee of Hoang Sa District in central Da Nang city the 1908 Atlas and 1933 Atlas, as well as 92 maps and three summary records with many Chinese maps that exclude the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes attached.

To date, Thang has presented DISD with 150 maps, including 110 originals and 40 copies. The maps were published in the UK, Germany, Australia, Canada, the US and Hong Kong (China) in the 1626-1980 period.

Among them, 80 maps depict Hainan Island as the southernmost territory of China, 50 show that Hoang Sa and Truong Sa belong to Viet Nam and ten maritime maps as well as ten maps featuring Asia and Southeast Asia indicate that Hoang Sa and Truong Sa lie in the territorial sea of Viet Nam. — VNS