ABSTRACT

In addition to the Vietnamese official historical records, Vietnamese government documents recorded very clearly the surveys and the planting of border markers, which had been ordered by Vietnam's legal authorities to be carried out almost every year. The documents are the red-marked royal records with legally binding instructions from the Nguyen emperors, orders issued by the local authorities, as well as Vietnamese codification books of the royal court. In addition to government documents, or orders by local government officials, Vietnam also possessed numerous official historical records, unofficial documents, gazetteers and survey maps with information on Paracel Islands covering a much longer period of time. Codification books are books that recorded all regulations, standards and data and facts related to the organization and activities of the royal court, and of the government. Pre-1909 maps of China drawn by the Chinese all noted clearly that the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos had never belonged to China.