Hanoi-Peking oil row grows

Jakarta (Reuter) - Vietnam yesterday repeated demands that China stop exploring for oil in what Hanoi claims as its territorial waters, and said Peking's actions could threaten regional security.

'The Chinese activities have caused a lot of concern not only because of the dispute between Vietnam and China on some territorial waters but (because) it relates to the security of the whole region,' said the Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister, Le Mai. 'I think China will have to respond to the Vietnamese requests for an immediate halt to the oil-drilling and other activities in Vietnam's territorial waters,' he said during the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Jakarta.