In a report published Sunday, China's official Xinhua news agency says 1,100 residents of several islands known in Chinese as Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha have elected 45 deputies to a municipal people's congress. The islands are part of the new city called Sansha, and the council will be based on an island China refers to as Yongxing.
Xinhua also says China's Central Military Commission has approved the formation of a Sansha garrison command responsible for "national defense" and "military operations."
The Chinese government declared the establishment of Sansha last month, saying its role is to administer the disputed Paracel and Spratly islands and surrounding South China Sea waters which are believed to hold oil and natural gas deposits. The islands also are claimed in whole or in part by the governments of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
In a statement Saturday, the Vietnamese government said it opposes the establishment of Sansha. It called the move a "serious violation" of Hanoi's sovereignty over the archipelagos, which it claims as part of Danang city and KhanhHoa province. The state-run Voice of Vietnam quotes authorities in Danang and KhanhHoa as saying the Chinese action "might be detrimental to the friendship" between the two neighbors.
China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have failed to agree on a Code of Conduct for resolving South China Sea territorial disputes. They discussed the issue at an ASEAN summit in Cambodia earlier this month.
