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| Mai Ngoc Hong talked to visitors about the map at the Viet Nam National Museum of History yesterday Photo: Tuoi Tre |
The map backs up Viet Nam's ownership of the Truong Sa (Spratly) and Hoang Sa (Paracel) islands, as it shows these archipelagos were not part of Chinese territory when the map was made.
The map, which was published in 1904, was given to the museum by researcher Mai Ngoc Hong, a former official of the Institute of Han Nom (Chinese Hans) Research.
Hong bought the map of China from an old book trader. The map shows that China's territory stretched as far south as Hainan Island and that the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa Islands did not belong to China.
The map was printed in colour by the Shanghai Publishing House, and measures 115cm by 140cm.
After holding it for 30 years, Hong has decided to release the historical evidence with a translation by himself into Vietnamese. --VNS
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has suggested Vietnam and Australia work harder to lift their bilateral ties to a new height while meeting with Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives Anna Burke in Hanoi on May 22.
Vietnam always attaches importance to promoting friendship and all-round cooperation with the Republic of Korea (RoK), Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh has said.