Trường Sa (township)

Trường Sa is a township (thị trấn) and capital of Trường Sa District, Khánh Hòa Province, Vietnam.^[1]

Trường Sa Thị trấn Trường Sa
Township (Class-5)
Trường Sa township
Spratly Island
Trường Sa
Coordinates: 8°38′41″N 111°55′12″E
Country	Vietnam
Region	South China Sea
Province	Khánh Hòa
District	Trường Sa
Population  (2019)
• Total	31
Time zone	UTC+7 (UTC + 7)

The township consists of Spratly Island and nearby islands, reefs and banks.

History

The township was established on April 11, 2007 under the Vietnam Government's Decree 65/2007/NĐ-CP.^[2]

Traffic

The town has a regional airport, Truong Sa Airport, with a runway length of 1,200 m that can accommodate small planes to transport people and necessities as well as transport patients to the mainland. The airport management and technical assurance department is in charge of the General Staff Department, Division 370.^[3]

The town also has a lock with many piers that can accommodate many boats at the same time.

Islands and atolls belong

Islands

S. No.	Island name	Vietnamese name	in Atoll	Area (ha)	Image	Note
1	Spratly Island	Đảo Trường Sa Lớn	Spratly Island	36.5		Spratly Island and West Reef East Island are the only two islands of Truong Sa township inhabited by civilians. People here make a living by fishing at sea and raising livestock, but some food still has to be imported from the mainland. On the sunken and floating islands, cows relax under the shade of trees, flocks of saltwater ducks search for food on the beach, dogs catch fish with soldiers, lush green vegetable gardens, and flocks of fish swim around the wharf. like at home's pond, square almond trees, maple trees, ancient storm trees fragrant with flowers... All those peaceful images are no different from a picture of a vibrant countryside on the mainland.
2	West Reef East Island[4]	Đảo Đá Tây A	West London Reef	11
3	Da Lat Island	Đảo Đá Lát	Ladd Reef	15		In early November 2022, Vietnam began accreting and renovating Da Lat Island into an artificial island.
4	Truong Sa Dong Island	Đảo Trường Sa Đông	Central London Reef	25		Truong Sa Dong Island is a small sand island in Central London Reef
5	Phan Vinh Island	Đảo Phan Vinh	Pearson Reef	58		Phan Vinh Island is a small sandy island belonging to Pearson Reef. Today, Vietnam has built up a large island with an area 13 times its natural area. In the illustration is the original island (natural).
6	Phan Vinh B Island	Đảo Phan Vinh B	Pearson Reef	20		From October 2023, Vietnam will begin to expand Phan Vinh B Island. In the future, the area of this island may exceed Phan Vinh Island.
7	Nui Le A Island	Đảo Núi Le A	Cornwallis South Reef	5		At the end of October 2022, Vietnam continued to expand this island and planted many coconut trees on it.
8	Toc Tan A Island	Đảo Tốc Tan A	Alison Reef	2		In early December 2022, Vietnam began conducting dredging and accretion activities on Toc Tan A Island. As of November 2023, Toc Tan A has become an artificial island with an area of about 2 hectares, about 150 m long, about 140 m wide, with a jetty on the south side.
9	Tien Nu Island	Đảo Tiên Nữ	Tennent Reef	30		Vietnam has built artificial islands located Tennent Reef with the current area of 26 hectares.
10	Thuyen Chai Island	Đảo Thuyền Chài	Barque Canada Reef	220		Thuyen Chai Island is a newly built artificial island by Vietnam located on Barque Canada Reef. This is also the largest island (both natural and artificial) occupied and controlled by Vietnam.
11	Amboyna Cay	Đảo An Bang	Amboyna Cay	1.6		Initially, this island was called Cồn cát An Bang by Vietnam. Then changed the calling to Đảo An Bang as today.

Atolls

S. No.	Reef name	Vietnamese Name	Image
1	Ladd Reef	Đá Lát
2	West London Reef	Đá Tây
3	Central London Reef	Đá Giữa
4	East London Reef	Đá Đông
5	Pearson Reef	Rạn vòng Pearson
6	Alison Reef	Đá Tốc Tan
7	Cornwallis South Reef	Đá Núi Le
8	Tennent Reef	Đá Tiên Nữ
9	Barque Canada Reef	Bãi Thuyền Chài

See also

• Spratly Island

References

1. Ministry of Public Information in Vietnam Archived 2012-08-20 at the Wayback Machine
2. "Nghị định 65/2007/NĐ-CP về việc điều chỉnh địa giới hành chính thị xã Cam Ranh và huyện Diên Khánh để thành lập huyện Cam Lâm; điều chỉnh địa giới hành chính để thành lập xã, thị trấn thuộc các huyện: Cam Lâm, Trường Sa và mở rộng phường Cam Nghĩa thuộc thị xã Cam Ranh, tỉnh Khánh Hòa". 4 July 2024.
3. "Chuyện kể trên đường băng Trường Sa".
4. "China's New Claims in the South China Sea". www.rfa.org.