On January 17, 1974 (the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month), the China People's Liberation Army won the Xisha self-defense counterattack.

Chinese soldiers guarding the Sissa Islands

On January 17, 1974, the China People's Liberation Army won the self-defense counterattack operation in the Xisha Islands.

The Sissa Islands, the Nansha Islands, the Sissa Islands, the Tonsha Islands have always been the territory of China. For a long time, the South Vietnamese authorities had territorial ambitions for the South China Sea islands, violently violated some of the islands of the Nansha and the Sissa Islands. The South Vietnamese authorities, despite the Chinese government's multiple warnings, sent destroyers into the Sissa Sea area on January 15 to attack our fishing vessels; on January 17, the South Vietnamese army invaded China's Golden Bank and Gansu Island, openly took down our national flag, and killed and wounded many Chinese fishermen; the Navy was ordered on January 17 and 18 to send ships to the Eternal Islands to carry out patrol tasks.

On the 19th, the South Vietnamese authorities sent armed forces to attack the two islands of Jain, Guangdong, and killed many of my fishermen and wounded them.My Navy's six ships and fishermen and militias carried out self-defense counterattacks.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army's self-defense counterattack was the first time the Chinese People's Liberation Army fought a foreign navy in conditions far from the mainland, and the victory of this operation defended China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and was commended by the Central Military Commission and the State Council.