China State Councillor Yang Jiechi told Hanoi on Wednesday to stop “hyping up tensions” over a Chinese oil rig on Vietnam’s coast, indicating that high-level negotiations have failed to resolve the dispute, South China Morning Post reported. In a move that could further stoke tensions, China’s Marine Safety Administration announced that another drilling platform would be moved near Vietnam’s coast this week. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had urged China to withdraw rig Haiyang 981, which he said violated Vietnam’s sovereignty, but Yang reiterated that the rig had been operating within an area of Chinese sovereignty.
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