Huangyan Island (formerly known as Democracy Reef) is the only island reef exposed from the water in zhongsha islands, China, which is located at 15 07' north latitude and1751'east longitude, about 160 nautical miles from Zhongsha Atoll. Huangyan Island is an inherent territory of China, which is under the administrative jurisdiction of zhongsha islands Office in the southwest of Hainan Province. China has sufficient legal basis for the territorial sovereignty of Huangyan Island: China first discovered and named Huangyan Island, and incorporated it into China's territory to implement sovereign jurisdiction; China has been developing and utilizing Huangyan Island for a long time. To the east of Huangyan Island is the Deep Manila Trench, which is the natural geographical boundary between China zhongsha islands and Philippine Islands.

China first discovered and named Huangyan Island, which was incorporated into Chinese territory and exercised sovereign jurisdiction.

According to historical records, in 1279, Guo Shoujing, a famous astronomer in the Yuan Dynasty, ordered a "four seas survey", and the survey point in the South China Sea was Huangyan Island. This shows that China discovered Huangyan Island at least in the Yuan Dynasty.

1935 65438+ 10, Huangyan Island was named scarborough Reef among the 132 reefs in the South China Sea, and was incorporated into the territory of China by the Land and Water Review Committee of the China Government, which was composed of officials from the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Navy and the Ministry of Education, as a part of zhongsha islands. 1947 10 In the Comparison Table of Old and New Names of South China Sea Islands approved and published by the Government of the Republic of China, scarborough Reef was changed to Democratic Reef and listed in zhongsha islands. 1983, when China Geographical Names Committee authorized the publication of Some Geographical Names of South China Sea Islands, Huangyan Island was used as the standard name and Democratic Reef as the sub-name. The official maps published by successive governments in China have marked Huangyan Island as the territory of China. Huangyan Island has been under the jurisdiction of China, Guangdong and Hainan provinces. China government's announcements and statements on the sovereignty of the South China Sea Islands all point out that the territorial sovereignty of Huangyan Island belongs to China.

Before the 1990s, the international community never raised any objection to China's sovereignty over Huangyan Island, and there was no dispute over the sovereignty of the island.

Since 1992, Gollers, the former national security adviser of the Philippines, claimed that Huangyan Island was Philippine territory and provoked disputes. Philippine scholar: Huangyan Island really belongs to China [3]

Starting from 1993, the Philippines conducted investigations, inspections and patrols on the island. 1997, the Philippine navy destroyed the symbol of China's sovereignty; When a Japanese ship carrying radio enthusiasts from China, the United States and China visited the island, the Philippines called China "trying to occupy Huangyan Island" on diplomatic occasions and formulated operational principles to safeguard its "sovereignty". 1998, the Philippines established specialized agencies including naval forces, aviation detachments and intelligence forces.

During the period of 1999, Philippine warships repeatedly drove and sank China fishing boats. And deliberately stranded the eliminated warship "BRP· Benkai" on Huangyan Island (165438+1October 3). China asked the Philippines to tow it away. As the premise of Premier Zhu Rongji's official visit to the Philippines, the "from Benkai" was towed away from Huangyan Island on February 5, 65438. In 2004, the Philippines placed it on Zhongye Island in Nansha.

China's conventional missile submarines patrol the South China Sea according to the Paris Agreement of 1898, the Washington Agreement of 1900 and the Anglo-American Treaty of 1930. The east longitude 1 18 line is the western boundary of Philippine territory, and Huangyan Island is outside it. The Philippine government reaffirmed this line in the Philippine Constitution promulgated by 1935 and the Philippine territorial sea baseline law promulgated by 196 1.

The maps published by the Philippines before 1990 did not include Huangyan Island in its territory, and the international community (including the Philippines) never raised any objection to China's sovereignty over Huangyan Island. But at that time, Huangyan Island was under the control of the United States.

On March 10, 2009, Philippine President Arroyo formally signed the Territorial Sea Baseline Law, which incorporated some islands and reefs of Nansha and Huangyan Island in China into Philippine territory despite China's opposition. According to Philippine media reports, Ermita, the civil servant of the Philippine Presidential Office, announced on March 1 1 2009 that Arroyo had signed Republic Act No.9522 the day before, namely "Philippine Territorial Sea Baseline Law", ignoring China's protest and insisting on its sovereignty over Nansha Islands. He told the media that the "Territorial Sea Baseline Law" did not specifically declare that the Prattley Islands (Nansha Islands) and Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island) belonged to the Philippines, because the sovereignty of the Philippines over these two islands "has been embodied in the existing laws" and "does not need to be embodied in the newly signed bill".

Ermita claimed that the passage of the bill was in line with the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and said that "the new law is not to expand the territory, but to technically adjust the baseline of the territorial sea".