The Battle of the Paracel Islands was a military engagement between the naval forces of the People's Republic of China and Republic of Vietnam in Paracel Islands on January 19, 1974. The battle was an escalation of the Republic of Vietnam Navy's efforts to expel Chinese fishing vessels from the vicinity of some of the Paracels.

During the course of the battle, the People's Liberation Army Navy established permanent control over the Crescent Group of the Paracel Islands. Although this result was not part of China's original military objectives, it completed China's control over the Paracels.
Historical background
The tiny, uninhabited Paracel Islands, called Xisha Islands in Chinese and Hoang Sa Islands in Vietnamese, lie in the South China Sea roughly 200 nautical miles from Vietnam. With no native population, the archipelago’s ownership has been frequently in dispute since the early 20th century.

On July 3, 1938, the French who had colonized Indochina in the 19th century invaded the Paracel Islands. The Nationalist Government of China, which was otherwise occupied with the Second Sino-Japanese War, registered a formal protest. Three days later, on July 6, the Japanese Foreign Ministry also issued a declaration in protest of the French occupation.

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