China accused Vietnam of "gravely violating" its sovereignty and endangering Chinese sailors in the South China Sea in an escalating row over territorial claims in the resource-rich region.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued the condemnation of Vietnam late on Thursday after Hanoi accused China of harassing a ship doing seismic surveys in the South China Sea, contested by several nations.
China has quarreled with both Vietnam and the Philippines in recent weeks over festering maritime disputes and, though a military clash seems unlikely, the tensions could trouble regional diplomacy and possibly draw in the United States, which took up the South China Sea dispute last year.
Those tensions have been magnified by region-wide nervousness about China's naval modernisation.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said his country was the victim in the latest encounter in which a Chinese fishing boat became entangled with cables from the Vietnamese ship and was dragged along for over an hour.
"The Vietnamese ship put the lives and safety of the Chinese fishermen in serious danger," Hong said in a statement on the ministry website (www.mfa.gov.cn).
He accused Vietnam of violating China's claim on the Spratly archipelago and nearby seas, which Vietnam also deems its own. China calls the islands the Nansha group.
"It must be pointed out that by conducting unlawful oil and gas surveys in seas around the Wan'an Bank of the Spratly archipelago and by driving out a Chinese fishing vessel, Vietnam has gravely violated China's sovereignty and maritime rights," said Hong.
