The Paracel Islands Battle: 40 years later

This Jan.19, it will have been 40 years since China wrested control of the Paracel Islands from Vietnam, then South Vietnam. East of Vietnam and south of China’s Hainan Island, the Paracels remain a sore point between the two neighboring countries, already embroiled in other territorial and maritime disputes.

Prior to the 1974 invasion, occupation of the…