Sea Spat Raises China-Vietnam Tensions

Vietnam protested to China Thursday after what it claimed was a "premeditated" attack on an exploration ship in its waters, but Beijing hit back, warning its neighbour against violating its sovereignty.

The latest incident comes against a backdrop of increased anti-Chinese sentiment in Vietnam, where hundreds of people staged a rare protest Sunday over the activities of Chinese ships in disputed waters.

With ties between Beijing and Hanoi at their lowest ebb in years owing to territorial spats over potentially oil-rich waters, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung vowed to protect Vietnam's "incontestable" sovereignty.

Vietnam PM Says Sea Sovereignty 'Incontestable'

Vietnam is determined to protect the "incontestable" sovereignty of two South China Sea archipelagos, the prime minister said in a report Thursday, intensifying a war of words with China.

Tensions between Beijing and Hanoi are at their highest in years owing to long-standing territorial disputes over the potentially oil-rich Paracel and Spratly archipelagos.

The situation escalated in late May after Vietnam accused China of violating its exclusive economic zone stretching to 200 nautical miles.

Hanoi said three Chinese marine surveillance vessels severed the exploration cables of a Vietnamese oil survey ship, violating the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.