Vietnam on Tuesday said it had formally complained to Beijing over claims Chinese fishing vessels sabotaged a boat owned by energy giant PetroVietnam in the latest tensions over the disputed South China Sea. Beijing must "immediately end this wrongdoing and not allow similar acts to reoccur", Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi said in a statement.

He added that the incident "violated Vietnam's sovereignty". PetroVietnam's geological survey vessel, the Binh Minh 2, was operating in Vietnamese territorial waters on Friday when it was approached by a number of Chinese fishing vessels which cuts its exploration cables, Vietnam News reported.

Vietnam and China have a long-standing dispute in the South China Sea over their competing claims to the Paracel and Spratly islands, both potentially resource-rich rocky outcrops that straddle key shipping lanes. Beijing last week announced new rules, which appear to allow police to board foreign ships in the disputed South China Sea.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012