Historically, before the 20th century, Bạch Long Vĩ island was not inhabited due to the lack of water resources. In 1887, a convention between China (
Qing dynasty) and France made the government cede the island to
French Indochina (
Annam Protectorate). According to Article 3 of this convention, Bạch Long Vĩ Island is located to the west of meridian 105° 43'East Paris (meridian 108° 03'13 "East Greenwich), and so belongs to sovereignty of Vietnam. However, this was not an acceptable result for China. In the contemporary published map of the Republic of China and other nations, this island still remained a part of China (Goode's World Atlas, Rand McNally, 1933). Also, some foreign scholars regarded that this island had been China's territory at least up to 1950. Due to the lack of fresh water, until the end of the 19th century, Bạch Long Vĩ Island was uninhabited and the island was just a place to avoid the strong wind of fishermen at sea. Around 1920, a freshwater well was discovered in the south of the island. In August 1921, a resident of Giap Nam village, Co To county, Quang Yen province made an application to be allowed to cultivate in the lowland area of Bạch Long Vĩ Island. Since then, the French protectorate had increased surveillance over the Bạch Long Vĩ and requested that the Department of Taxation's patrol boats departing from Co To Island must visit Bạch Long Vĩ at least once a year. In 1937, the Government of Emperor Bao Dai of Vietnam sent a squad of 12 men to form a garrison, established a village - commune (làng - xã) regime, appointed a village chief (Lý trưởng) on the island, and officially renamed the island is Bach Long Vi. Administratively, the island was under the management of the head of Co To county, Quang Yen province. After that, the island village consisted of three residential clusters gathered in the southern part of the island, with about 75-80 houses, a population of about 200 people. The inhabitants of the island made their living by breeding, farming on the island and fishing around the island. There were about 25-50 fishing boats in Cat Ba Island, registered in September each year to go fishing in the southern waters of Bạch Long Vĩ, were allowed to anchor at the island to avoid monsoons. Most of the fish caught were transported to Cat Ba Island, a part was sold locally and a smaller part was sold to Hainan Island (China). Abalone was a valuable sea product that was bought by Chinese merchant boats and sold to Guangdong (China). However, later, there was an order that the exploited abalone could not be sold to China, but only sold in Vietnam. The core issue to be settled in the Gulf of Tonkin is which principle should be used in order to divide the Gulf. In this context, the impact of islands is of crucial importance and, in particular, the Vietnamese controlled Bach Long Vi Island. The first question is whether or not it qualifies as an island according to the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (1982 UNCLOS). If it does impact on the
tracing of a line of equidistance if this principle is applied in the Gulf of Tonkin. Logically, Vietnam would take the position that Bach Long Vi Island should have its full impact in any agreement on how to divide the Gulf. On the other hand, China has an interest in minimising the impact that the Island would have on any agreed delimitation. This could be done by, either arguing that Bach Long Vi is not an island in accordance with the provisions of 1982 UNCLOS or, by arguing that its impact should be minimised and possibly even be disregarded. For China to argue that it is not an island would be counterproductive as China has earlier controlled the island and has claimed that the
island was inhabited before it was handed-over to Vietnam in the late 1950s. (
The Management of the Border Disputes Between China and Vietnam and its Regional Implications by Assoc.Prof.Ramses Amer, Co-ordinator, South-East Asia Program (SEAP), Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, and Senior Research Adviser, Department of Research Co-operation-SAREC, Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (SIDA), October 2000) == Wildlife and biodiversity ==