Article: The tiny islands that could explode the China-Vietnam relationship
“Named by 16th century Portuguese mapmakers, the Paracels are a collection of 130 small coral islands and reefs in the northwestern part of the South China Sea. They support abundant marine life. But more than being just a rich fishing ground, there is speculation the islands could harbor potential energy reserves.They have no indigenous population to speak of, only Chinese military garrisons amounting to 1,400 people, according to the CIA Factbook.”
“But there is no certainty on who really owns them. Ask one expert and the answer will be Vietnam has the strongest claim. Ask another and the reply will be China.” https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/29/asia/vietnam-china-paracel-islands-intl-hnk/index.html
With this RLE the “ourselves” part of November 2020 TOK Essay Prescribed Title #3 could be viewed from a patriotic / nationalistic way. There may be some people involved in the process who are less concerned with who has a more legitimate claim to the island and more with “winning” the dispute.