Southwest Cay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Vietnamese forces invaded the Philippine-occupied Southwest Cay about 20 years ago.
The Vietnamese forces invaded the Philippine-occupied Southwest Cay about 20 years ago.
Southwest Cay Invasion
Date 1975
Location Southwest Cay
Result Vietnamese Capture of Southwest Cay
Belligerents
Flag of the Philippines Philippines
 Flag of South Vietnam South Vietnam Flag of North Vietnam North Vietnam later as Vietnam (unified)

Southwest Cay or Pugad Island or Song Tu Tay Island (Tagalog: Pugad; Chinese: 南子岛; pinyin: Nanzi Dao; Vietnamese: Đảo Song Tử Tây) is an islet in the Spratly Islands. With an area of 12 hectares, it is the sixth largest Spratly island and the second largest among Vietnam-occupied Spratly islands. It holds the archipelago's highest point, at 4 metres above sea level. It is about 1.75 miles from Northeast Cay (Song Tu Dong Island) and is part of North Danger Reef. This island is being claimed also by China, Taiwan and the Philippines.

Southwest Cay was once a breeding place for birds and was covered with trees and guano. Export of guano was once carried out "on a considerable scale."[1]









[edit] Vietnamese Invasion

Part of a series on
Spratly Islands
Map of Spratly Islands
Related Articles
Confrontations
Johnson South Reef Skirmish
Southwest Cay Invasion
Philippine-Related
Kalayaan, Palawan
Policies, activities and history...
Others
Kingdom of Humanity
Republic of Morac-Songhrati-Meads
Available Island/Reef Articles
This box: view • talk • edit

Song Tu Tay Island was occupied by Philippine forces up to 1975 only when South Vietnam forces were able to invade the island.[2]

Song Tu Tay Island is in the northern edge of the Spratly chain. It is within North Danger Reef which also contains the Philippine-occupied Northeast Cay (Parola Island), Vietnamese-occupied South Reef and unoccupied North Reef. Southwest Cay and Northeast Cay are just 1.75 miles away from each other. Each island can actually see the other within their respective horizons.

The invasion took place when all the Philippine soldiers guarding the Song Tu Tay left the island to attend to the birthday party of their commanding officer who is based in nearby Northeast Cay (Philippines call it Parola Island). The storm that day is also believed to have persuaded all the soldiers to regroup temporarily in Northeast Cay. A report also came out saying that South Vietnamese officials managed to send Vietnamese prostitutes to the birthday party to lure the Filipino soldiers guarding Song Tu Tay. It was said to be a "present" to the Philippine commander for his birthday and as a move of South Vietnamese forces to befriend all Filipino soldiers guarding the Spratlys. Philippine soldiers did not expect that South Vietnam would do a foul play especially because both Philippines and South Vietnam, together with United States, are allies in the Vietnam War. This tactic is believed to be the reason behind on why South Vietnamese forces knew that the Filipino soldiers left the island, an action that is usually carried confidentially.

After the party and after the weather cleared out, the returning Filipino soldiers were surprised that a company of South Vietnamese soldiers are already in the island. The South Vietnamese flag replaced the Philippine flag flying in the pole created by Philippine soldiers themselves. The soldiers returned to Northeast Cay immediately for fear that it is the next target. After higher-ups of the Philippines were informed about the situation, they instructed the troops based in Northeast Cay and Thitu Island to stay on red alert status. For the following mornings, the only thing the Filipino soldiers can do in Northeast Cay is to "curse" while South Vietnamese sang their national anthem. Malacañang officials, who did not want to compromise the alliance while Vietnam War is still being fought, decided to remain silent.

Few months later, the recently formed unified Vietnam (with the North Vietnam successfully invaded South Vietnam) decided to remove all remaining South Vietnamese troops in Spratlys and establish a military control among the features. It was reported that dozens of South Vietnamese soldiers in Song Tu Tay swam all the way to Northeast Cay just to avoid being captured by North Vietnamese forces. It is then when Malacañang officials, headed by President Ferdinand Marcos, discussed on how the Philippines can reclaim the island. It had been apparent that most of the officials (who treat the communists as a threat to the Philippine national security) want to attack Song Tu Tay to reclaim it. However, after an intelligence report came stating that the unified Vietnam has already built a huge concrete garrison within a few weeks, the officials dropped the plan and tried to resolve the issue diplomatically. However, this approach eventually died along the process making Southwest Cay a Vietnamese-occupied island up to this day. This incident was confirmed in interviews with soldiers involved in an episode of the defunct Magandang Gabi Bayan (Eng.: Good Evening Nation) (MGB) of ABS-CBN.[3]

[edit] External Links

[edit] References and Notes

  1. ^ Digital Gazetter of Spratly Islands. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  2. ^ The following references does not discuss the invasion of Southwest Cay Island. Only short passages can be read that confirm Vietnam's take over of the island from the Philippines. Also, these references did not explicitly said that South Vietnam was the one which actually took over, before they were replaced by the unified Vietnam's forces. Some conflicts with the date of occupation are present among these references.
  3. ^ The following reference only says some information on how the invasion took place and many of what is said in this subsection is based on the MGB episode:

Coordinates: 11°26′N 114°20′E / 11.433, 114.333

Languages