Author Nguyen Thanh Tong, deputy chairman of the Vietnamese Association in France, poses for a photo with a soldier on the Sinh Ton Island. (Photo: vov.gov.vn)The 200-pagebook entitled “Bien Dao Que Huong” (Homeland's Seas andIslands) was compiled by overseas Vietnamese Nguyen Thanh Tong, deputychairman of the Vietnamese Association in France.
"Vietnamdoes not only have many rivers, mountains and beautiful seas but we alsohave islets and islands in the middle of the blue seawhich belong to Vietnamese sovereignty," said Tong.
"Thisincludes Truong Sa. The book aims to introduce to people who have not yethad a chance to visit the archipelago about the life of soldiers andtheir families on the distant islands."
"Thesoldiers guard the sacred sea and sky of the country day and night andtheir children everyday go to school. There are also pagodas on the islands."
Tong took thephotos when he visited the islands and DK1 platform in 2016. He wasimpressed with the officials and soldiers who live there.
Despitehardships and difficulties, they grow vegetables and raise chickens, ducksand pigs to eat, alongside the seafood they catch.
The book hastwo parts. The first includes photos with the experiences of the authorto the first destination of the journey – Da Lon (DiscoveryGreat) Reef. The ship anchored far from the reef and he used lifeboats to landon the islet.
The photos inthis part also feature the islets of Son Ca, Nam Yet, Sinh Ton, TruongSa Dong and Truong Sa. The author took a photo of the statue of SupremeCommander Tran Hung Dao (1228-1300) on Nam Yet Islet.
The lastdestination in his journey was DK1 platform - a group of off-shore steelrigs for providing maritime services and research - where he tookphotos of the daily lives of the soldiers who live and workat the platform.
The secondpart features historical documents and photos of the Truong Sa and HoangSa (Paracel) archipelagoes which reinforces Vietnam sovereignty over HoangSa. It also has international opinions and comments about the East Sea./.
VNA
