Overview
The Paracel Islands are surrounded by productive fishing grounds and potential oil and gas reserves. In 1932, French Indochina annexed the islands and set up a weather station on Pattle Island. China has occupied all the Paracel Islands since 1974, when its troops seized a South Vietnamese garrison occupying the western islands. China has built a military installation on Woody Island with an airfield and artificial harbor, and it has scattered garrisons on some of the other islands. Taiwan and Vietnam also claim the Paracel Islands.
Geography
- Location
- Southeastern Asia, group of small islands and reefs in the South China Sea, about one-third of the way from central Vietnam to the northern Philippines
- Total Area
- 8 sq km ca.
- Climate
- tropical
- Terrain
- mostly low and flat
- Natural Resources
- none
- Coastline
- 518 km
- Land Borders
- 0 km
People & Society
- Population
- 2,230 (2024 est.)