SPRATLY ISLANDS S. Vietnamese send force

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33448, 1 February 1974, Page 17

SPRATLY ISLANDS S. Vietnamese send force

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright)

SAIGON, January 31.

South Vietnam, which lost a twoday battle with China for one group of islands in the South China Sea, sent ships and troops today to seize another island group occupied by Taiwan, military sources said.

The sources said that the Vietnamese Navy flagship Tran Hung Dao—a destroyer escort —two other ships and 200 militiamen would attempt to land at five of the Spratly Islands tomorrow. The action is meant to be only a symbolic claiming of the Spratlys and the Vietnamese are under orders to avoid a fight with Taiwan-

ese troops on a sixth island, the sources said. In Saigon, Taiwanese Embassy officials were studying the reported troop movements today, but had no comment.

The Spratly Islands lie about halfway between Vietnam and the Philippines, 600 miles south of the Paracel Islands. The Paracels were captured by Chinese in a brief battle with South Vietnam on January 19 and 20. Beneath both groups, many geologists believe, lie vast quantities of oil. There has not been any exploration for petrol in the area. Tomorrow’s planned landing by Vietnamese forces will be Saigon’s first physical occupation of the Spratlys in years.

Taiwanese troops and meteorologists garrison one island of the group, and Filipinos are stationed on three islands near—but not in—the Spratlys. Taiwan and China, the Philippines, and South Vietnam actively claim the Spratlys. All but the Philippines also claim the Paracels. South Vietnamese military officers said that President Nguyen Van Thieu personally approved plans to occupy the Spratlys after his forces lost the Paracels.