Sansha is China’s largest city by claimed administrative area and its smallest by land and population, a prefecture-level city of about 2,300 residents spread over some 280 reefs, sandbars and islets; its sovereignty is claimed in whole or in part by six governments.
按其声称的行政管辖面积,三沙是中国最大的城市,陆地面积和人口则最少,这座地级市只有两千三百来个居民,散布在二百八十多个岛礁、沙洲和暗沙之间,这些岛礁的主权被包括中国在内的六个政府全部或部分主张。
The Chinese government says it administers about two million square kilometres of sea and ocean floor from here, and some 13 square kilometres of dry land.
中国政府说,它从这里管辖约两百万平方公里的海域,陆地面积约十三平方公里。
A City of Reefs
岛礁上的城市
Sansha was approved by the State Council and announced by the Ministry of Civil Affairs on 21 June 2012, and was inaugurated on Yongxing Island (Woody Island) in the Paracel Islands (Xisha) on 24 July 2012, when its Party committee, government and the People’s Liberation Army’s Sansha garrison command were all unveiled together, according to the Hunan emergency management department. It governs the Paracel, Spratly (Nansha) and Zhongsha island groups and their waters, some 280 islands, sandbars, reefs and shoals, according to the same source.
据湖南省应急管理厅介绍,二零一二年六月二十一日民政部公告国务院批准设立三沙市,七月二十四日在西沙永兴岛举行成立大会暨揭牌仪式,三沙市党委、政府和解放军三沙警备区同时挂牌。据同一来源介绍,三沙市管辖西沙、中沙、南沙群岛的岛礁及其海域,共二百八十多个岛、沙洲、暗礁、暗沙和暗滩。
The Chinese government says the purpose is to strengthen administration and development of the islands, to help declare and protect sovereignty in the South China Sea, and to support marine protection and resource development, according to the same source. Sansha’s first mayor, Xiao Jie, called the city a decision to safeguard national sovereignty and security, according to Voice of America. The Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang called it a necessary adjustment to the local administrative structure that was within China’s sovereign rights, according to Al Jazeera. In April 2020 the State Council added two districts, Xisha, seated on Yongxing Island, and Nansha, seated on Yongshu Reef (Fiery Cross Reef), according to Xinhua.
据同一来源介绍,中国政府称设立三沙市的目的是加强对岛礁及海域的管理和开发建设,有利于宣示和维护南海主权,并为保护南海海洋环境、开发南海资源提供服务保障。据美国之音介绍,三沙首任市长肖杰称设市是为维护国家主权和安全作出的决策。据半岛电视台介绍,外交部发言人秦刚称这是对当地行政架构的必要调整,完全在中国主权权利范围之内。据新华网介绍,二零二零年四月国务院批准设立西沙区和南沙区,西沙区政府驻永兴岛,南沙区政府驻永暑礁。
The 2020 census counted 2,333 residents, and by the end of 2024 the figure was 2,200, according to Baidu Baike. The census figure leaves out garrison troops, and registered residents numbered 621 in 2020, according to Sina. Yongxing Island, the seat, is a naturally formed island of more than two square kilometres, the largest in the Paracels, and Chinese troops have held it since 1956, according to The Diplomat. It now measures about 890 acres, or 360 hectares, after reclamation, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
据百度百科介绍,二零二零年人口普查常住人口二千三百三十三人,二零二四年末为二千二百人。据新浪介绍,常住人口不含驻军官兵,二零二零年户籍人口六百二十一人。据《外交学者》杂志介绍,市政府所在的永兴岛是天然形成的岛屿,面积两平方公里多,是西沙群岛中最大的一个,中国军队一九五六年起驻守。据亚洲海事透明倡议介绍,经填海后它现在约八百九十英亩,合三百六十公顷。
Who Claims What
谁主张什么
The Paracels are occupied by China and claimed by Vietnam (Hoang Sa) and Taiwan, according to Worldstatesmen. China and South Vietnam once held different parts of the group, and China took control of all of it after a brief conflict in 1974, according to Al Jazeera. Vietnam says China seized the islands violently in the 1970s and that it has sufficient historical and legal evidence of its own sovereignty, according to Viet Nam News. China says it recovered the islands after the Second World War, according to a Chinese note to the United Nations.
据”世界政治家”网站介绍,西沙群岛由中国占有,越南(黄沙)和台湾也主张主权。据半岛电视台介绍,中国和南越曾分别控制群岛的不同部分,一九七四年一场短暂冲突之后,中国控制了整个群岛。据越南新闻社介绍,越南称中国七十年代以武力夺取了这些岛屿,并称自己有充分的历史和法律依据。据中国致联合国的照会,中国称二战结束后收复了西沙群岛。
Vietnam claims all of the Spratlys, as do China and Taiwan, according to the Asia Policy centre NBR, and the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei claim parts of them, according to the Associated Press. The Philippines and Taiwan also claim Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha), according to the Associated Press. China says Xisha and Nansha are inherent parts of China and that Sansha’s districts lie within Chinese territory, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry in 2020.
据美国国家亚洲研究局介绍,越南和中国、台湾都主张整个南沙群岛;据美联社介绍,菲律宾、马来西亚和文莱主张其中一部分。据美联社介绍,菲律宾和台湾也主张中沙的麦克斯菲尔德浅滩。据中国外交部二零二零年的表态,西沙、南沙是中国的固有领土,三沙市的区设在中国领土上。
Sansha itself has drawn protests since it was first reported. In December 2007, when it was alleged that China’s legislature had created a county-level city of that name, a claim the Chinese government had not confirmed, Vietnam allowed hundreds of students to protest on two consecutive weekends near the Chinese embassy in Hanoi and the consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, according to the Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, citing the Straits Times. Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry called the move a violation of Vietnam’s sovereignty, according to the FORSEA research centre, and China neither announced the city that year nor denied it, according to Baidu Baike.
三沙市从最初被报道起就不断引来抗议。据《亚太杂志:日本聚焦》援引《海峡时报》介绍,二零零七年十二月有传言称中国立法机构已设立同名的县级市,中国政府并未证实,越南随即允许数百名学生在连续两个周末到中国驻河内大使馆和驻胡志明市领事机构附近抗议。据FORSEA研究机构介绍,越南外交部称此举侵犯了越南主权;据百度百科介绍,中国当年既未宣布设立该市,也未否认。
After the 2012 announcement the Philippines said it did not recognise the city or its jurisdiction, and Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said it violated international law and seriously infringed Vietnam’s sovereignty, according to the Associated Press and Bloomberg. Philippine President Benigno Aquino asked in his state of the nation address what he would say if someone entered his yard and claimed to own it, according to Voice of America. The US State Department said it remained concerned about unilateral moves that would seem to prejudge an issue it said could only be solved by negotiation among all the claimants, according to its press briefing of 24 July 2012. Beijing called the US criticism unhelpful and summoned a US diplomat, according to Al Jazeera. Vietnam’s National Assembly had passed a maritime law asserting sovereignty over the Spratlys and Paracels on 21 June 2012, and China protested it, according to the Associated Press.
据美联社和彭博社介绍,二零一二年宣布设市后,菲律宾表示不承认三沙市及其管辖范围,越南外交部发言人称此举违反国际法,严重侵犯越南主权。据美国之音介绍,菲律宾总统阿基诺在国情咨文中反问,如果有人闯进你的院子说那是他的,你会同意吗。据美国国务院二零一二年七月二十四日的例行记者会,美方称,对任何看来会预设议题结果的单方面举动仍感关切,并称这个问题只能由所有声索方通过谈判解决。据半岛电视台介绍,中方称美方的批评无益于地区和平稳定,并召见了一名美国外交官。据美联社介绍,越南国会二零一二年六月二十一日通过海洋法,宣示对南沙和西沙的主权,中国对此提出抗议。
In April 2020 Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry again protested the so-called Sansha city and demanded that China abolish its decisions, according to VietnamPlus, and China answered that any attempt to deny its sovereignty would fail, according to Global Times. A separate legal case concerned maritime rights in the South China Sea, rather than the sovereignty of Sansha’s islands. On 12 July 2016 a tribunal in the Philippines’ case against China concluded that China’s claims to historic rights within the nine-dash line had no legal basis insofar as they exceeded the rights permitted by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and it stressed that it did not rule on any question of sovereignty over land territory or delimit any boundary, according to the Permanent Court of Arbitration. China did not take part, and its Foreign Ministry declared the ruling null and void, non-binding, and neither accepted nor recognised, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
据越南通讯社介绍,二零二零年四月越南外交部再次抗议所谓三沙市的设立,要求中国撤销有关决定;据《环球时报》介绍,中方回应称任何否认中国主权的企图都注定失败。另有一个案件涉及的是南海的海洋权利,而不是三沙各岛礁的主权。据常设仲裁法院介绍,二零一六年七月十二日,菲律宾诉中国案的仲裁庭认定,中国在九段线内主张的历史性权利,凡超出《联合国海洋法公约》所允许的海洋权利范围的,没有法律依据,同时仲裁庭强调,它不对任何陆地领土主权问题作出裁决,也不划定任何边界。据中国外交部介绍,中国没有参与,外交部声明该裁决无效、没有拘束力,中国不接受、不承认。
Getting There
前往三沙
Foreign nationals are barred from tourist visits to the Paracels and are reported to be refused landing on Yongxing Island, Sansha’s administrative centre. According to a 2022 article by The Paper, republished by Tencent News, foreigners are not allowed to land on Yongxing Island, because of Sansha’s strategic importance to the state.
外国人不得以游客身份前往西沙群岛,据报道也被拒绝登上三沙市行政中心所在的永兴岛。据腾讯新闻转载的二零二二年澎湃新闻文章介绍,外籍人员不可以登永兴岛,因为三沙对国家有重要的战略意义。
The only tourist route to the Paracels, the cruise from Sanya, accepts only holders of a mainland Chinese resident ID card, and residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, foreign nationals and overseas Chinese cannot join, according to Zhihu and Weibo travel guides citing local rules. A tourism-company answer to a foreign resident of Beijing says the islands are closed to foreign tourists under national regulations for territorial protection and military defence, according to Top China Travel. No published law was found that sets out these restrictions.
据知乎和微博上援引当地规定的旅游攻略介绍,去西沙群岛唯一的游客线路是从三亚出发的邮轮,只接受持大陆居民身份证的公民报名,港澳台居民、外籍人士和华侨都不能参加。据”中国旅游”网站对一位在北京居住的外国人的答复,出于领土保护和军事防御的考虑,按照国家有关规定,西沙群岛只对中国居民开放,外国游客无法登岛。我们没有找到列明这些限制的公开法规。
Reaching Sansha is hard, and the civilian routes are restricted even for Chinese citizens. Yongxing airport, 800 metres from the city government, has a 3,000-metre runway and is shared by military and civilian users, and it began civil charter flights for official visitors on 22 December 2016, according to Baidu Baike. Yongxing Island is not open to all tourists and takes only research and family visits, with flights from Haikou in about an hour, according to The Paper. The supply ships Sansha 1 and Qiongsha 3 sail from Qinglan port in Wenchang, and are restricted to residents, garrison personnel and their relatives, according to Sohu.
到三沙很难,即使对中国公民,民用通道也有限制。据百度百科介绍,永兴机场距市政府约八百米,跑道长三千米,军民合用,二零一六年十二月二十二日开通面向公务人员的民航包机。据澎湃新闻介绍,永兴岛目前没有对所有游客开放,只限科考和探亲,从海口飞行约一小时。据搜狐介绍,补给船”三沙1号”和”琼沙3号”从文昌清澜港出发,只限岛上居民、驻岛官兵及其亲属乘坐。
Ordinary tourists go by cruise ship from Sanya to the Paracels, but only to a few islands and only Chinese citizens aged 12 to 68 with mainland ID, according to The Paper. The cruise calls at Quanfu, Yinyu and Yagong islands, according to a travel site, and Vietnam’s foreign ministry has criticised Hainan’s resumption of cruise routes to the Paracels, according to Viet Nam News.
据澎湃新闻介绍,普通游客可从三亚乘邮轮去西沙,但只能上少数几个岛,且仅限十二岁至六十八岁、持大陆居民身份证的中国公民。据一家旅游网站介绍,邮轮停靠全富岛、银屿和鸭公岛;据越南新闻社介绍,越南外交部批评了海南恢复西沙邮轮航线的做法。
According to Autohome, Sansha vehicles use Hainan’s 琼C registration series, also used in Qionghai, Wenchang and Wanning.
据汽车之家介绍,三沙的车辆使用海南的”琼C”号牌系列,琼海、文昌、万宁等地也使用同一系列。