China has reiterated it has indisputable sovereignty over islands in the South China Sea. This a day after it unveiled a tourism development plan involving the islands.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular press briefing that China’s sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea, including the Xisha and Nansha islands, is indisputable.
China View reported the State Council announced a guideline on the development of tourism in the southern island province of Hainan, which says tourism will be promoted on the Xisha Islands and some uninhabited islands.
Meanwhile, Vietnam has condemned what it says is a Chinese plan to develop tourism on the disputed Paracel archipelago.
The Paracels would be included in China’s plan to develop nearby Hainan island into an international tourist site according to Vietnamese foreign ministry spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga.
Nga demanded China immediately end the plan which "causes tension and further complicates the East Sea situation/"
Vietnam and China have a long-standing dispute over sovereignty of the Paracels and a more southerly archipelago, the Spratlys. Both are in the South China Sea, which Vietnam calls the East Sea.
Google has an illustration in which Vietnamese students shout slogans during a protest against the Chinese occupation of the disputed Paracel archipelago.