Disputed territory · South China Sea

Paracel Islands

Frozen: held by China since 1974Updated October 12, 2026

The Paracel Islands are about 130 small coral islands and reefs in the South China Sea, between China's Hainan island and central Vietnam, and China has held all of them since 1974. China took the western Crescent group from South Vietnam in a battle on January 19-20, 1974. Vietnam claims the islands as Hoang Sa, and Taiwan claims them too. China calls them Xisha and runs them from Woody Island, the seat of Sansha city. In 2026 China finished a new artificial island at Antelope Reef, covering about 6 km², and began building a runway there.

The Crescent Group, the part of the Paracels that China took from South Vietnam in 1974, seen from a plane in 2007. Photo: Swaminathan, CC BY 2.0.

Held by China since: 1974; all of them, after a battle with South Vietnam
Natural land: About 7.75 km²; China's building has roughly doubled it
Residents: 1,549; China's 2020 census, not counting troops
Antelope Reef: 6 km²; new island finished in August 2026 (CSIS AMTI)
Held by: China
Claimed by: Vietnam Taiwan

Paracel Islands in 30 seconds

The Paracel Islands are about 130 small coral islands and reefs in two groups, about 350 km southeast of Hainan and 400 km east of central Vietnam.
China took the western Crescent group from South Vietnam in a battle on January 19-20, 1974. China has held all the Paracel Islands since.
Vietnam claims the islands as Hoang Sa, and Taiwan claims them too. China runs them as Xisha District of its city of Sansha.
In 2026 China finished a new island at Antelope Reef and began work on a runway. Vietnam demanded "the immediate cessation" of the work.

Who controls the Paracel Islands?

China controls all the Paracel Islands and runs them from Woody Island, in the eastern Amphitrite group. On July 24, 2012, China made Woody Island the seat of a new city, Sansha, to govern its claims in the South China Sea. In 2020 China created a Xisha District for the Paracel Islands under Sansha. Woody Island has a runway of about 2,700 m. US officials and Taiwan's defense ministry reported surface-to-air missiles there in February 2016, and Chinese bombers landed there in May 2018. China's 2020 census counted 1,549 permanent residents in the Paracel Islands, not counting troops.

Vietnam administers its claim on paper as Hoang Sa. Since July 2025 Hoang Sa has been a special zone of the city of Da Nang. Taiwan claims the islands as part of its South China Sea claim but does not press it. In July 2026 Taiwan's foreign minister, Lin Chia-lung, said Taiwan "has a legitimate claim to the South China Sea islands" but is not actively asserting it.

Who claims the Paracels

ChinaHolds all the islands. Calls them Xisha, part of the city of Sansha
VietnamCalls them Hoang Sa, a special zone of the city of Da Nang
TaiwanClaims them as Xisha but does not press the claim
South China SeaThe wider dispute, including the Spratly Islands

Map of the Paracel Islands between Vietnam and China's Hainan island, with Woody Island, Antelope Reef and Triton Island — Paracel Islands: held by China, claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan Island or reef, with the flag of the country that holds it The islands are too small to see well at this scale. Map data: Natural Earth; positions are approximate.

Why do China and Vietnam both claim the Paracels?

Each side says its people used and governed the islands first. Vietnam cites the Hoang Sa flotilla, which under the Nguyen lords from the 17th century collected goods from wrecks and surveyed the islands. Vietnam also cites Emperor Gia Long's claim of 1816. China cites centuries of Chinese records and the use of the islands by Chinese fishermen. France claimed the islands for its Vietnamese protectorate of Annam in 1932 and put troops on them in 1938. Japan occupied them during the Second World War.

In late 1946 the Republic of China, the government that later retreated to Taiwan, took over Woody Island. Its troops left in 1950, and the People's Republic of China set up a presence there in the mid-1950s. South Vietnam held the western Crescent group. In 1958 North Vietnam's prime minister, Pham Van Dong, wrote to China's premier, Zhou Enlai, that his government "recognizes and supports" China's declaration of a 12-nautical-mile territorial sea. China says the letter recognized its sovereignty over the Paracel Islands. Vietnam says it concerned only the width of the sea, and that the islands were under South Vietnam at the time.

How the islands changed hands

1816Vietnam's Emperor Gia Long claims the islands, by Vietnam's account
1932France claims the islands for Annam
1946The Republic of China takes over Woody Island
1950sThe People's Republic holds the east, South Vietnam the west
1958North Vietnam's prime minister writes to Zhou Enlai
1974China takes the western Crescent group in a battle
2012China makes Woody Island the seat of Sansha city
2026China finishes a new island at Antelope Reef

What happened in the 1974 battle?

On January 19-20, 1974, Chinese forces took the Crescent group from South Vietnam in a battle at sea and on the islands. About 74 South Vietnamese were killed, the toll Vietnamese commemorations use. China reported 18 dead and 67 wounded. The South Vietnamese minesweeper HQ-10 Nhat Tao was sunk, and its captain, Nguy Van Tha, was killed. China took 48 prisoners.

North Vietnam, then at war with South Vietnam, made no public protest. Vietnam, reunited under North Vietnam's government in 1976, claims the islands today.

January 1974

About 74

South Vietnamese killed in the battle for the Paracels

Gerald Kosh, 27, a US Defense Department employee, was the only American captured. US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger raised his case with China's envoy on January 25. On January 31, after about 10 days in custody, Kosh walked across the Lo Wu bridge into Hong Kong in a Chinese worker's uniform, followed by five South Vietnamese prisoners.

What is China building in the Paracels?

China has made new land in the Paracel Islands and in 2026 began building a runway on its newest island. Starting in October 2025, China built an island at Antelope Reef, in the Crescent group, that covered about 6 km² by March 2026, according to CSIS AMTI, a US research group. AMTI reported the work complete on August 14 and says the island could now be the largest in the South China Sea. By late September, satellite images showed work on a full-size runway. Analysts expect paving in the first half of 2027. Reuters also reported new installations on nearby Yagong Island. Analysts suspect the installations are an early-warning radar.

The US State Department called the militarization "unacceptable" on August 26. On August 28 Vietnam demanded "the immediate cessation" of the work. China replied, using its name for the islands, that "Xisha Qundao is China's inherent territory, over which there is no dispute."

Size of China's built-up islands in the Paracels

Antelope Reef, new island6.0 km²
Woody Island today3.6 km²
Woody Island before building2.1 km²

CSIS AMTI, March 2026.

What happens to Vietnamese fishermen near the Paracels?

The Paracel Islands are traditional fishing grounds for fishermen from Vietnam's Quang Ngai province and Ly Son island, and most incidents involve them. China bans fishing in the northern South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands, from May 1 to August 16 each year. Vietnam rejects the ban every year. On September 29, 2024, Chinese forces boarded a Quang Ngai boat off the Paracel Islands and beat its 10 crew with iron bars, by Vietnam's account. China said "no injuries were found."

From December 2025 China built up coast guard, maritime militia and local law-enforcement ships around the islands. In January 2026 China sent CCG 5901, a 12,000-ton coast guard cutter. In 2014 a Chinese oil rig in waters Vietnam claims, near the Paracel Islands, set off anti-China riots in Vietnam. Vietnam's government reported at least 2 killed, and China says 4 Chinese were killed.

Ly Son island

17th century

When the Hoang Sa flotilla began sailing to the Paracels

Every spring on Ly Son, 13 families hold a ceremony for the flotilla's sailors. They float small paper boats carrying effigies of the sailors out to sea and tend symbolic tombs for men never found. Vietnam listed the ceremony as national heritage in 2013.

What is at stake in the Paracel Islands?

Fish
The waters around the Paracel Islands are traditional fishing grounds for Vietnamese and Chinese fishermen. Most clashes near the islands involve Vietnamese fishing boats and Chinese coast guard or militia ships.
Submarines
The Paracel Islands lie south of Hainan, where China's base at Yulin, near Sanya, hosts its ballistic-missile submarines. Gregory Poling of CSIS says Yulin "controls all the deployments in the Paracels and the Spratlys."
Sea zones
In 1996 China drew straight baselines around the Paracel Islands and treats the waters inside as its own. The United States says this breaks the law of the sea. A US destroyer, USS Halsey, sailed near the islands in May 2024 to challenge the baselines, the most recent such US operation made public. In 2013 the US Energy Information Administration estimated that the Paracels hold no oil and little natural gas.

Questions about the Paracel Islands

Who owns the Paracel Islands?

China holds and governs all of the Paracel Islands. Vietnam and Taiwan both claim them. No court has ruled on the Paracel Islands. A 2016 ruling on the South China Sea, in a case brought by the Philippines, left the Paracel Islands out. Its reasoning on straight baselines is cited against China's baselines there.

What do the names Paracel, Xisha and Hoang Sa mean?

"Paracel" comes from the 16th-century Portuguese "Ilhas do Pracel," from a word for a shoal or sandbank. China's name, Xisha, means "Western Sands." Taiwan uses the same name. Vietnam's name, Hoang Sa, means "Yellow Sands." This page uses the English name.

Can tourists visit the Paracels?

Chinese cruise ships have taken mainland Chinese tourists from Sanya to the Paracel Islands since 2013, on trips of about four days. Foreigners, and residents of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, are normally not allowed. Stops have included Yagong Island, where Reuters reported suspected radar work in 2026.

Do people live on the Paracels?

China's 2020 census counted 1,549 permanent residents in the Paracel Islands, not counting troops. Woody Island's school opened in December 2015 with six pupils, the children of fishermen, soldiers and officials. The island also has a post office, a bank branch and a hospital.