Vietnamese protest China oil rig in disputed South China Sea

The latest confrontation in the disputed Paracel Islands, which China occupied from US-backed South Vietnam in 1974, has raised fears that tensions could escalate.

Vietnam says the islands fall within its continental shelf and a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. China claims sovereignty over the area and most of the South China Sea — a position that has brought Beijing in confrontation with other claimants, including the Philippines and Malaysia.

The United States has criticized China's oil rig deployment as provocative and unhelpful. Foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations who gathered Saturday in Myanmar ahead of Sunday's summit issued a statement expressing concern and urging restraint by all parties.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying responded by saying that the issue should not concern Asean and that Beijing was opposed to "one or two countries' attempts to use the South Sea issue to harm the overall friendship and cooperation between China and Asean,'' according to state-run Xinhua News Agency.