evidence: Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/10/17: CIA-RDP08001297R000300180017-4 ? THE DISPUTED ISLANDS IN SOUTH. CHINA SEA .The South China Sea is surrounded by China to the north, the Philippines to the east and Vietnam and Malaysia to the west and south. In the area there are numerous reefs, shoals and banks associated with three so-called groups of islands: Pratas, Paracels and Spratlys. The Pratas conOsts of one island located 2?N., 1179E. and 160 miles southeast of Hongkong (Figure 1). The [...] I-Chin Reefs; (2) the islands, such as Pratas and Woody, are closer to China than any other contry; (3) there are records of Chinese settlement and control of the islands. Before 1907 Chinese fishermen had established a village including temples in Pratas. During that year 100 Japanese inhabited the island. [...] During World War II Japan occupied all the islands in the South China Sea and place them under the administration of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. After the defeat of Japan, the Nationalist navy in 1946 took over the control of Pratas, Faracells and Itu-aba Island of the Spratlys group. They withdrew from Pratas and Paracels in 1948 prior to the Communist take-over of these island in 1950.