Two ancient documents, which are more evidence of Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, were handed over to the Foreign Ministry by the Thua Thien-Hue Province Committee on February 2.
The first is a royal document discovered by researcher Phan Thuan An who offered it to provincial authorities.
The document is a petition dated December 15 of the lunar calendar, during the 13th year of King Bao Dai’s reign (1939), in which the French Resident Superior in Central Vietnam, Graffeuil, requests the King to posthumously bestow the “Tu hang Long tinh” (Dragon Medal, Fourth Class) to Louis Fontan, a French corporal of first-rank who died that day in Hue after suffering malaria while he and his unit were posted on Hoang Sa.
On February 2, 1939, the petition was sent by French Resident Superior Graffeuil to Pham Quynh, chief of the Royal Household Secretariat, who then assigned Senior Lieutenant Colonel Tran Dinh Tung to make a copy of it and send it to King Bao Dai a day later.
On the petition, the king wrote the word “Chuan y” (Approved) and signed the document “B.D.” (Bao Dai).
The king’s approval of the petition is interpreted as an expression of his respect for the merits of Louis Fontan, one of the French officers assigned to protect Hoang Sa under the sovereignty of the Nguyen Dynasty.
The second document, dated November 6, 1759, is written in Chinese characters on “dó” paper by Thuan Duc Hau, a Le Dynasty mandarin who defended the Bien Hai (now Tu Hien) river mouth in Thua Thien-Hue Province.
The document was drawn up to resolve a legal dispute between two wards: My Toan (now My Loi Village) and An Bang (now An Bang Village) in the province.
The document, offered by My Loi Village to the provincial authorities, mentions a Hoang Sa fleet that intervened in the dispute.
It also carries the mandarin’s signature and seal, proving that under the Le Dynasty, Vietnam had a fleet to patrol and protect Hoang Sa.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Thua Thien-Hue Province People’s Committee have conferred certificates of merit on researcher Phan Thuan An and the people of My Loi Village.
