Chinese Tourist Boat Heads Toward Disputed Islands

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/world/asia/chinese-tourist-boat-headstoward-disputed-islands.html

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A cruise ship carrying Chinese tourists has embarked on a trip to the Paracels, a group of islands in the South China Sea that are claimed by both China and Vietnam. Vietnamese news reports said the ship left the coast of mainland China on Sunday despite protests against any such trip by the Vietnamese government in early April.

China and Vietnam have long disputed sovereignty over the Paracels. China is also competing with other Southeast Asian nations to lay claim to other parts of the South China Sea, notably the Spratly Islands.

Thanh Nien, a Vietnamese state-run news organization, said Vietnam’s National Border Committee under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had filed a protest on April 5 against the plans for the cruise, arguing that Vietnam had “incontestable” sovereignty over the Paracels and Spratlys. China’s territorial claims have come under closer scrutiny recently as the country exerts its military strength more prominently. This month, Chinese soldiers set up camp inside the remote Ladakh region of northern India, Indian officials said. Is is unclear why the soldiers made that move.