VIETNAM is this week staging Spratly Islands 'liberation' celebrations as part of the country's build-up to the 20th anniversary of the fall of Saigon this Sunday.
Troops and scientists stationed on Spratly Island were relieved from normal duties for a liberation party.
President Le Duc Anh cabled a letter of greeting in which he sought to confirm Vietnam's sovereignty over the hotly-disputed archipelago.
'Truong Sa [Spratly] is a sacred territory of Vietnam,' Mr Anh said.
Spratly Island is home to most of the 1,000 Vietnamese personnel - mainly soldiers, sailors and scientists - in the group.
The island was the last stronghold of soldiers loyal to the US-backed Saigon regime in the two-week attack in 1975 on the island group.
The celebrations follow Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet re-affirming Vietnam's claims this week, urging all claimants to seek settlement through peaceful negotiation and saying acts of aggression must not be used.
