China has maintained the utmost restraint in the face of Vietnamese provocations to avoid the tense situation escalating. In response to the provocations, China has only used civilian vessels and chosen a diplomatic channel for communication with the Vietnamese, asking Hanoi to respect China's legitimate rights and interests and immediately stop its provocative activities.

However, such restraint has failed to gain respect. Instead, Vietnam has responded by increasing its vessels at the scene and has even mobilized some armed ships and frogmen. They have even put up a lot of fishing nets and barricades in the relevant waters, not only seriously threatening the safety of China's vessels, drilling equipment and personnel, but also seriously endangering normal navigation safety.

These provocative activities have not only seriously infringed upon China's sovereignty, sovereign rights and right of jurisdiction, they will also probably cause serious damage to the Sino-Vietnamese relations that were otherwise on the track of enhancing strategic mutual trust and deepening mutually beneficial cooperation.

In June 2013, Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang paid a visit to China and held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Both leaders unanimously agreed that friendship between China and Vietnam is the common wealth of both peoples, and both countries should continue adhering to the principles of "good-neighborliness, friendship and all-round cooperation" and continue to be "good neighbors, good friends, good comrades and good partners" to each other.

With the joint efforts of both leaders, China and Vietnam have laid out an overall pattern of coordinatively advancing maritime, land and financial cooperation, ushering in a new future of booming development in their bilateral ties. The working group for joint maritime development established by two countries has held two rounds of consultations and achieved some positive progress.

In this context, both countries should join hands to cherish and carry forward the hard-won good momentum and, in particular, remain vigilant against any alienation instigated by the United States and Japan based on their strategic interests.

There is no doubt that Vietnam's latest provocative activities in the South China Sea have had an unfavorable influence on its otherwise good interaction with China. In order to maintain the healthy development of bilateral relations and the stability of the South China Sea, the Vietnamese authorities should return to reason as soon as possible, immediately stop all provocative activities and withdraw all of its vessels and personnel from the operating site of the Chinese oil rig.

The author is a researcher with the China Institute of International Studies.