The Chinese Government said the South China Sea has been an inalienable part of Chinese territory since ancient times.

The government puts forward several reasons for this: first of all is the principle of discovery. China said it discovered and explored the South China Sea first and that claim is also in line with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The country has managed and developed the islands for hundreds of years.

China was the first to discover and name the Nansha Islands, otherwise known as the Spratlies. They are now a flashpoint for territorial disputes. The earliest recorded discovery can be traced back to over two thousand years ago to the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-A.D. 9).

Numerous references and records have been made since then in hundreds of books or documents.

China was also the first to develop and exercise jurisdiction over the Nansha Islands. Chinese people have been engaged in fishing there as early as the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The islands came under Chinese jurisdiction in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). Maps and geography books all included the islands with Chinese domain. There have also been accounts for patrol and inspection activities.

The names of all islands, isles and reefs in the South China Sea, including the Nansha Islands, were unmistakably marked on the Chinese map issued in 1935.

In 1939, Japan invaded and occupied the islands in the South China Sea. In 1946, in line with the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, the Chinese Government took over the Nansha and Xisha Islands and erected marks of sovereignty there.

In 1947, the Ministry of Interior renamed 149 of the islands. In November that year, the Guangdong Provincial Government was authorized to publish the Map of the South China Sea Islands.

In 1958, the Chinese Government issued a declaration defining its territorial waters, which includes the Nansha Islands. North Vietnam's then prime minister sent a diplomatic note to Premier Zhou Enlai, stating that "The Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam respects this decision."

In 1959, the government established a local administrative office to manage the islands. And in 1988, the office was transferred to the administration of the newly-created south China's Hainan Province.

Many multilateral documents and overseas encyclopedias have also listed the South China Sea as the territory of China.

There was no dissension from any country on China's sovereignty until the 1970s, when huge oil and natural gas deposits were discovered.

(CNTV.cn November 22, 2011)