The Real Basis of Beijing's Nine-Dash Line

The first full-time military garrison in the Paracels and the Spratlys was established by France in 1933...

When WWII officially broke out in 1939, Axis-member Japan grabbed these islands from France and used them as submarine bases...

After Japan's surrender in 1945, the Republic of China (now officially known as Taiwan) attempted to take over Japanese control over the islands under the rationale that Japan used to administer the islands together with Taiwan as a single political entity during WWII... this explains why the now-infamous "Nine-Dash Line" was first mentioned in 1947...

In substance, therefore, Beijing's (and Taiwan's) claim on the Paracels and Spratlys is based on the Japanese conquest of the islands (from France) in 1939... and not on the historical jurisdiction exercised by certain ancient Chinese dynasties dating back to thousands of years ago... this explains why authentic old Chinese maps always show Hainan Island as the southernmost territory of Imperial China...

This is a historical fact which Beijing will find very hard to swallow... so expect the Orwellian tra-la-la pronouncements to continue..