BEIJING, June 9 (UPI) -- China, repeating its claim over the South China Sea and its Spratly Islands, asked Vietnam to refrain from actions it said would violate that claim.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said his country has "indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands (Spratly Islands) and the surrounding waters," the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Hong as saying.
The dispute over the sea and the islands, seen as rich in minerals and oil, has heated up since Vietnam, which also claims ownership, accused Chinese patrol boats of snapping the cables of a Vietnamese ship involved in seismic research off its coast. There were demonstrations in Vietnam over the incident.
Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan make similar claims in the area.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said "armed" Vietnamese ships were chasing away Chinese fishing boats operating in the region when, the fishing net of one of the fishing boats got tangled with the cables of the Vietnamese seismic ship, which he said was operating illegally in the same area, Xinhua said.
These actions by Vietnam have grossly infringed the Chinese sovereignty and maritime rights, Hong said.
China has asked all claimant countries to stop drilling for oil and gas.
China "seeks to control these resources because they are abundant and closer to home than oil from the Middle East," Professor Carlyle Thayer at the Australian Defense Force Academy of the University of New South Wales told The Wall Street Journal. "The South China Sea forms one part of a larger effort by China to secure energy supplies around the world in order to fuel its high economic growth rates."
While asserting its claims, China also says it wants to preserve peace in the region and negotiate the dispute. The Philippines has complained to the United Nations about China's alleged behavior in the South China Sea, the report said.
