Vietnam protests China move in South China Sea

Hanoi - Vietnam has protested new moves by China to assert sovereignty over the disputed Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, local media reported Tuesday. China announced November 8 it had decided to establish local governing bodies known as hamlet committees on Woody Island, the largest of the Paracels.

"This act seriously infringes upon Vietnam's territorial sovereignty," said government spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga said. It would harm the prospects for peaceful negotiations to determine the islands' permanent status.

China has occupied the Paracel Islands since 1974, when its troops overwhelmed a South Vietnamese garrison occupying the islands.

On Monday, Vietnamese Defense Minister Phung Quang Thanh told local media that South-east Asia should pool efforts to achieve a better bargaining position in maritime territorial negotiations.

"Let's stop allowing the bloc [the Association of South East-Asian Nations] to be separated and divided, in order to better protect the sovereignty and territory of each country," Thanh said.

Thanh was understood to be talking about negotiations with China, which has pressed the region's countries to negotiate bilateral treaties with it, rather than as a bloc.

Both Vietnam and China are signatories to the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. The declaration commits the parties to resolving the islands' status through negotiations, and provides for freedom of navigation.

Vietnam and China generally enjoy close relations, but the conflict over maritime resources is a persistent source of tension. Each country submitted maritime territorial claims to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in early May, and rejected the other's claims shortly afterward.

The South China Sea is believed to contain substantial undersea oil reserves.