(Reuters)– Vietnam has made “unreasonable” accusations against China, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday (May 22), after the Vietnamese government said it was considering various “defense options” against China, including legal action.
“Now they are distorting the facts, conflating right and wrong on the global stage, blackening China and making unreasonable accusations against China. Just who is the one who is repeatedly challenging other countries’ sovereignty? Who is the one who is causing tensions in the seas? Who on earth is destroying peace and stability in the South China Sea? Facts speak louder than words,” the ministry’s spokesman Hong Lei told a regular news conference.
Anti-Chinese violence flared in Vietnam last week after a $1 billion deepwater rig owned byChina’s state-run CNOOC oil company was parked 240 km (150 miles) off the coast of Vietnam seas that China and Hanoi jointly claim.
The spat is the worst breakdown in ties between the two Communist states since a brief border war in 1979.
China is locked in several territorial disputes with its neighbors in the South and East China Sea.
In March, the Philippines submitted a case to an arbitration tribunal in The Hague, challenging China’s claims to the South China Sea. It was the first time Beijing has been subjected to international legal scrutiny over the waters.
Beijing has refused to participate in the case and warned Manila that its submission would seriously damage ties.