The Paracel Islands are surrounded by productive fishing grounds and by potential oil and gas reserves. In 1932, French Indochina annexed the islands and set up a weather station on Pattle Island; maintenance was continued by its successor, Vietnam. China has occupied all the Paracel Islands since 1974, when its troops seized a South Vietnamese garrison occupying the western islands. China built a military installation on Woody Island with an airfield and artificial harbor. The islands also are claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.
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
16 30 N, 112 00 E
Southeast Asia
total: ca. 7.75 sq km
land: ca. 7.75 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land area is about thirteen times the size of the National Mall in Washington, DC
0 km
518 km
NA
tropical
mostly low and flat
mean elevation: NA
elevation extremes: lowest point: South China Sea 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Rocky Island 14 m
none
agricultural land: 0%
arable land 0%; permanent crops 0%; permanent pasture 0%
forest: 0%
other: 100% (2011 est.)
0 sq km (2012)
typhoons
NA
composed of 130 small coral islands and reefs divided into the northeast Amphitrite Group and the western Crescent Group
no indigenous inhabitants
note: there are scattered Chinese garrisons
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Paracel Islands
etymology: Portuguese navigators began to refer to the "Ilhas do Pracel" in the 16th century as a designation of low lying islets, sandbanks, and reefs scattered over a wide area; over time the name changed to "parcel" and then "paracel"
The islands have the potential for oil and gas development. Waters around the islands support commercial fishing, but the islands themselves are not populated on a permanent basis.
1 (2013)
total: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2013)
small Chinese port facilities on Woody Island and Duncan Island
occupied by China
occupied by China, also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam
