Vietnam has sovereignty over Paracel Islands: foreign ministry

"As has been clearly enunciated many times, Vietnam has full legal basis and ample historical evidence to assert its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and the Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands," spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang said.

"Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa Islands has been established since at least the 17th century in accordance with international law, and exercised in a peaceful, continuous and public manner by successive Vietnamese states," Hang said.

"Every act of threatening or using force in international relations, especially the use of force to resolve territorial disputes between states, is in complete contravention of the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter, and in serious violation of international law. Such an act neither establishes any title of territorial sovereignty, nor changes the truth that sovereignty over the Hoang Sa Islands belongs to Vietnam."

Hang was responding to inquiries about Vietnam's opinion on China illegally occupying the Paracel Islands since 1974.