claiming that "Nanhai" in the 1279 survey was located in the Paracels.[22] Historical geographer Niu Zhongxun defended this view in several articles.[23] In 1990, a historian called Zeng Zhaoxuan (曾昭璇) argued instead that the Nanhai measuring point was located in Central Vietnam.[24] Historian of astronomy Chen Meidong (陈美东) and historian of Chinese science Nathan Sivin have since agreed with Zeng's position in their respective books about Guo Shoujing.[25][26]

In 1935, China, as the Republic of China (ROC), regarded the shoal as part of the Zhongsha Islands. That position has since been maintained by both the ROC, which now governs Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China (PRC).[27] In 1947 the shoal was given the name Minzhu Jiao (Chinese: 民主礁; literally: "Democracy Reef"). In 1983 the People's Republic of Chinarenamed it Huangyan Island with Minzhu Jiao reserved as a second name.[28] In 1956 Beijing protested Philippine remarks that the South China Sea islands in close proximity to Philippine territory should belong to the Philippines. China's Declaration on the territorial Sea, promulgated in 1958, says in part,

The breadth of the Territorial Sea of the People's Republic of China shall be twelve nautical miles. This applies to all territories of the People's Republic of China, including the Chinese mainland and its coastal islands, as well as Taiwan and its surrounding islands, the Penghu Islands, the Dongsha Islands, the Xisha Islands, the Zhongsha Islands [italics added], the Nansha Islands and all other islands belonging to China which are separated from the mainland and its coastal islands by the high seas.[29]

China