It is ignorant and presumptuous that Tomas Cloma and his country, the Philippines, daydreamed about snatching Chinese islands in the South China Sea.
In May 1956, Cloma (1904-1996), a Filipino lawyer and businessman, under the guise of expedition, arrived with others on the main isles and reefs of the Nansha Islands, such as Taiping Dao, Nanwei Dao and Zhongye Dao, raised Philippine flags and designated himself as president.
Cloma even sent the Philippine government two letters, in which he officially claimed the ownership of the islands and named them "Kalayaan."
Cloma's declaration met with immediate strong protest from the People's Republic of China.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Nansha Islands "have been inherent Chinese territory since ancient times ... China never allows any country to use any excuse to encroach on the Nansha Islands by any means."
The Foreign Ministry statement was followed by a series of articles on Chinese media and by experts meant to safeguard China's sovereignty over the South China Sea islands.
A commentary from People's Daily criticized Cloma's so-called discovery of the Nansha Islands, saying that the islands have been Chinese territory even before the Philippine Islands were discovered.
Indeed, Chinese people discovered the South China Sea islands as early as the Han Dynasty (206-220 BC). At the time, people called the South China Sea "Zhang Hai" and named the isles and reefs "Qitou."
In the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, Chinese fishermen divided the South China Sea islands into groups and named them. "Geng Lu Bu," a maritime navigation guide written at the time, records more than 80 South China Sea islands and some names are still in use today.
China was the first country in the world to develop the Nansha Islands and to exercise continuous jurisdiction in effective way.
The Chinese people had been planting on the South China Sea islands and fishing in the surrounding waters for a long time. Foreign books such as "The China Sea Directory" published by Great Britain Hydrographic Dept. mentioned the fact that only Chinese people conducted production activities and lived on the Nansha Islands in ancient times.
Historical records prove that all successive Chinese governments since the Tang Dynasty (618-907) administered the Nansha Islands through administrative mapping, inspection tours by naval forces and the inclusion of the islands in Chinese territory.
Therefore, Chinese sovereignty over the South China Sea islands has been formed during the process of peaceful use by the Chinese people and been established and consolidated through acts of state by successive Chinese central governments.
In the 20th century, the Xisha and the Nansha Islands, which were once occupied by Japan, were returned to China according to the Cairo and Potsdam declarations.
Despite the return of the Xisha and Nansha Islands, many isles and reefs were unattended for a long period due to adverse geographic and climatic conditions there and limited national strength.
It is ridiculous that Cloma should take them as newly discovered territory simply because he saw no one on the islands. The Philippines has more than 7,000 islands, most of which are neither populated nor named. According to Cloma's logic, such islands can be "found" and named and taken by any country.
In September 1956, navy ships sailed from Taiwan to patrol the waters surrounding the Nansha Islands, throwing Cloma's men out of the islands and driving their vessels away, and removed the signs left by the Filipinos on the islands.
In 1974, Cloma was arrested and forced to sign a document to convey to the Philippines whatever rights he might have had in the so-called newly discovered territory for 1 peso.
The Philippine government continued Cloma's ridiculous story by daydreaming about seizing the China-owned islands.
In January 2013, Manila unilaterally initiated an arbitration case against China under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which will probably have an ending as tragic as that of Cloma.
