Vietnam “resolutely opposes all China’s claims in the South China Sea based on the dotted line,” Hang added in the statement. Other countries have also rejected the map.

In the southern reaches of Vietnam, life has revolved around the water for hundreds of years. Here, in the Mekong Delta and on the Con Dao islands of the South China Sea, communities continue to ...

Vietnam and China briefly fought a war in 1988 over the Spratley Islands or Truong Sa, an archipelago of islets, reefs and cays in the strategically important and mineral rich area.