first asserted sovereignty in the modern sense to the South China Sea's island when it formally objected to France's efforts to incorporate Itu Aba and other islands and rocks into French Indochina during the 1884–1885 Sino-French war. The French conceded the Paracels and Spratly Islands to the Qing China, in exchange for Qing China's recognition of Vietnam as a French territory. Sensing the weaknesses of the Republic of China, France formally incorporated the Paracel and Spratly islands into French Indochina in 1932, a year after the Japanese formally invaded northeast China (Manchuria). China and Japan both protested. On the 6th of April 1933, France seized the Spratlys, formally included them in French Indochina, and built a couple of weather stations on them, but did not disturb the numerous Chinese fishermen it found there. On the 3rd of July 1938, French Indochinese colonial troops also formally occupied the Paracel islands in the name of French Indochina. The following year in March 1933, Japan took both the Paracel and Spratly islands from France, garrisoned them, and built a submarine base on Taiping (太平) Island. In 1941, the Japanese Empire made the Paracel and Spratly islands part of Taiwan, then under its rule. In 1945, in accordance with the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations and with American help, the armed forces of the Republic of China government at Nanjing accepted the surrender of the Japanese garrisons in Taiwan, including the Paracel and Spratly Islands. Nanjing then declared both archipelagoes to be part of Guangdong Province. It was administratively attached to the municipality of Takao (Kaohsiung) in the Japanese colony of Taiwan. On 6 November 1946, the ROC government sent four warships to the South China Sea to secure islands within the region, commanded by Lin Zun and Yao Ruyu (姚汝鈺): ROCS Chung-Yeh (中業號), ROCS Yung-hsing (永興號), (太平號) and ROCS Chung-chien (中建號). The warships departed from Guangzhou and headed towards the Spratly and Paracel island groups. On 12 December the two ships led by Lin Zun, ROCS Tai-ping and ROCS Chung-Yeh, arrived at Taiping Island. In commemoration of the island being secured, the island was chosen to be named after the ROCS Tai-ping warship, and thus a stone stele reading "Taiping island" was erected on a breakwater tip southwest of the island. This expedition was assisted with US naval logistical support. The other three ships likewise had their names used: Woody Island (in the Paracels)