Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides undeniable historical evidence of Vietnam's sovereignty over the islands. It presents legal evidence of Vietnam's sovereignty over the several archipelagos. The book also provides a listing of Vietnamese and Chinese gazetteers and maps, which demonstrated not only Vietnam's sovereignty over the archipelagos but also that the islands never belonged to China. It then provides scientific and technical data demonstrating Vietnam's sovereignty over Paracel ad Spratly Islands. The book examines up-to-date information regarding Vietnam's sovereignty over Paracel and Spratly Islands within the international community. It describes some information regarding the 1951 San Francisco International Conference. The book details several efforts by the Nguyen Dynasty of surveying and map drawing of the islands in its official activities to affirm its sovereignty over Paracel and Spratly archipelagos.