China's long-term effective jurisdiction over Huangyan Island offers an important proof for its sovereignty claim. There were a number of government actions involving the island, for instance, the territorial survey in the 13th century, the newspaper article wrote.

Li Hongyun, expert with the Law School of the Peking University, told the newspaper that the Chinese government officially announced the name of Huangyan Island respectively in 1935, 1947 and 1983 and all the official maps published by Chinese governments in different historical periods marked Huangyan Island as Chinese territory.

The island has been consistently under administration of China's Guangdong province first and Hainan province later. It is currently administered by the administration office for the Xisha Islands, Zhongsha Islands and Nansha Islands under Hainan province.

Since the 1970s, the Chinese government has approved many applications from foreign adventurers requesting to visit the island, Li said.

These actions are entirely official and governmental, which directly proves China's sovereignty over the island, Li said.