10 June 2011 Last updated at 04:49 GMT
Both China and the US have increased naval drills in the Asian region
Hackers have taken up where protesters left off
Both China and the US have increased naval drills in the Asian regionVietnam has accused China of attacking one of its survey ships in an escalating row over disputed waters in the South China Sea.
Vietnam said a Chinese fishing boat had intentionally rammed cables from an oil exploration vessel inside its exclusive economic zone.
China accused Vietnam of "gravely violating" its sovereignty and endangering Chinese sailors' lives.
China's attempts to claim the southern seas have angered many in the region.
Hackers from both countries have planted patriotic messages on hundreds of websites, including government sites.
Vietnam's foreign ministry spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga said a Chinese fishing boat had "intentionally rammed" the exploration cables of a Vietnamese boat - the second such incident within two weeks.
That vessel, chartered by state energy giant PetroVietnam, was conducting a seismic survey inside its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone on Thursday, she said.
She described the "premeditated and carefully calculated" attack as part of China's attempts to control disputed waters.
"This is unacceptable to Vietnam," she said, adding that her colleagues had met Chinese embassy officials "to express our opposition to such acts".
China visionThe incident was not like that at all, reported China's official news agency Xinhua.
Speaking on Friday morning, China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Chinese fishing boats were chased away by armed Vietnamese ships on Thursday.
He said that during the incident the fishing net of one of the Chinese boats became tangled with the cables of a Vietnamese oil exploring vessel which continued to drag the Chinese vessel for more than an hour before the net had to be cut.
Hackers have taken up where protesters left offChina insists the Vietnamese vessel was operating illegally in the area.
China's ambassador to the Philippines, Liu Jianchao, also spoke about the disputed seas.
He insisted China's intentions were peaceful and said that China was not looking for oil in the disputed waters and therefore, no other country should.
"We're calling on other parties to stop searching for the possibility of exploiting resources in these areas where China has its claims," he told reporters.
"We will never use force unless we are attacked," he said, when asked what China would do if other countries pursued their claims.
The Philippine government has accused two Chinese patrol boats of harassing a Philippine oil exploration ship on 2 March this year.
The Philippines has said it has seen new structures being built on islands which it claims.
"That's part of our exercise of jurisdiction. It's not harassment," Mr Liu said.
He also rejected the involvement of the United States in regional attempts to resolve the long-running territorial dispute.
China prefers to tackle each conflicting claim with each country separately.
Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines have led regional efforts to seek a multilateral resolution of the conflict.
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