Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have met with the Chinese embassy in Hanoi to reassert Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes.

Vietnam’s foreign ministry also objected to reported plans by China Mobile Ltd. to expand cellular phone coverage to Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.

The archipelagoes “are inseparable parts of Vietnam’s territory,” the ministry representatives told a Chinese embassy official in Hanoi. It cited the mobile service report among China’s “recent acts” that violate Vietnamese sovereignty as well as related treaties.

China’s State Oceanic Administration recently released a report on China’s ocean development this year where it claims sovereignty over the archipelagoes.

The administration also printed several maps including the nine-dash U-shaped line with which China claims 80 percent of the East Sea.

Any documents related to the two archipelagoes and issued without Vietnam’s agreement are not legal, the Vietnamese ministry said.

It said Vietnam demands that China respect its sovereignty over the archipelagoes as well as the relationship between the two countries, while avoiding actions that complicate the situation on the East Sea.