A ceremony was held yesterday to honour the Vietnamese-born American, Mr Tran Thang, who donated to Da Nang 170 maps which prove Viet Nam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos.  The municipal People’s Committee Vice Chairman Phung Tan Viet expressed his appreciation of the significance of the donated maps, and added that they provide historical evidence in support of our country’s righteous legal claim over the archipelagos.

Vice Chairman Viet thanked Mr Thang for his valuable map donations which show his ardent patriotism as well as his enormous enthusiasm for protecting the country’s territorial integrity and its sovereignty over its sea and islands.

Mr Thang (middle) receiving his Certificate of Merit

Also at the event, Mr Thang presented the local authorities with 2 original maps, “The East of India” and “The Chinese Empire” both published by Western countries, and a further 32 scanned copies of maps which he recently acquired.  All of them prove that the 2 archipelagos belong to Viet Nam.

Mr Thang said that he collected the maps by chance, and his meaningful actions have received strong support from a large number of his friends and the overseas Vietnamese community.  He promised that he would be continuing to deliver English language teaching programmes in the city as well as increasing cultural exchange activities.