Fully aware of the special significance of the strategy of defending territorial sovereignty and national border security, the Border Guard of Thua Thien-Hue province defines that each person in border areas is a border guard, creating a strong rampart at the frontier and contributing to firmly defending the border sovereignty of the Fatherland.

The island district of Ly Son has more than 40 families providing manpower to naval defence squads who sailed to Hoang Sa and Truong Sa under royal orders to exploit resources and plant territorial markers to affirm sovereignty.

Venerable Thich Thanh Thanh, 34, and monk Thich Tam Hien (now living at the Tan Long temple in the central province of Khanh Hoa) will manage a temple on Song Tu Tay island. Venerable Thich Giac Nghia, who now manages the Van Duc and Phuoc Tri temples in Nha Trang city and Venerable Thich Ngo Thanh will manage a temple on Truong Sa Lon island.

The 20th ASEAN Summit, with the theme of “ASEAN: One Community, One Destiny” held in Phnom Penh, on 3-4 April 2012, was chaired by Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN SEN, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, as Chair of ASEAN, in 2012. The Heads of State/Government of ASEAN Member States had substantive, frank and productive discussions in plenary and retreat sessions.

Watching in silence the Perfume River flowing down, the Hue researcher Nguyen Huu Chau Phan was deep in thought: "With only militiamen of Ly Son island and small sailing boats, numerous generations of the Vietnamese have bravely crossed the ocean to establish sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, that proves how far and excellent was the seafaring of the Vietnamese."

“The Annamese are certainly most skilful naval architects, and finish their work with great neatness. I was so much impressed by this portion of their economy…” exclaimed the US captain John White in the early 19th century when he visited naval shipyards of the Nguyen dynasty.

During my stay in Hue, I was looking for traces left behind by international navigators, who used to be the witnesses in waters under the sovereignty of Viet Nam centuries ago. While the artifacts left behind concerning these navigators were scarce, detailed notes were made in historical books.

While looking for the techniques employed to build once-famous sailing boats used by the Hoang Sa detachment, I was fortunate to meet a number of elders, who still master the techniques for building this type of boats. Some foremen even proudly told they have built tens of boats in their life till 1950s...